Every Word is a Lie
by Pidgee Squishee
Summary: Pidge attends the Garrison to discover what truly happened to her father and brother, meeting Lance and Hunk, her roomates. Alongside Romelle, Allura, and Keith, they must exploit the Garrison for the lie it is, and avenge losses. Through friendships and truths, can this ragtag gang complete their mission and remain sane? (Updates Wednesdays and Fridays)
1. Chapter 1

Boarding school was usually a place to discover more about yourself, grow up without the constant eye of an adult, be an idiot.

But of course, that wasn't the case for Kaitlynn Holt, AKA Pidge Gunderson. Her father and brother worked at Garrison Academy, only to have disappeared alongside another teacher, Takashi Shirogane. They were on one of the school's camping trips, when they were nowhere to be found the next morning. Most would say they were killed by bears, but if you asked their daughter, there was more to the story.

For starters, they were geniuses. They wouldn't just get killed by a bear, they would of closed the tent, and would have known how to not to anger the beast.

Secondly, bodies were never found. Bears do not eat bones, and there's no way to explain what happened. That, leads Katie to believe they're alive.

So, being the young computer genius she was, broke into the Garrison's teacher center and hacked into Headmaster Iverson's computer. What she found was shocking, but she was only able to download a small percentage before she was caught by Iverson himself. From then on, she was banned and threatened to be arrested for treason.

But of course, that didn't stop her. Katie decided nothing could stand in the way of her finding her family. Her mother had been checked into a mental health hospital after attempting suicide, which did set Katie back by a few weeks. Though, once all was well, she cut her hair. Took Matt's old glasses, and hacked into the Garrison's enrollment.

And that, was when Pidge Gunderson was born. Katie, the fourteen year old girl, no longer existed. In her place, was a seventeen year old tech savvy boy. Days later, with no surprise she received her acceptance letter. She packed up everything she'd need, and set off to the bus stop.

After waiting for minutes, the bus pulled up. She walked up the short flight of stairs and down the aisle to the back of the bus. Though, instead of a single seat in the back corner, there was a long one that went from both sides of the back. She sat down silently next to the window, and put her suitcase under the seat.

"Oh.. uhm.. hey." A girl said as she sat down next to her. She had long blonde hair pulled back in two pigtails, the loose bangs pulled back into a braided crown around the back of her head. Katie— Pidge awkwardly smiles and pushes herself farther into the wall.

"Sorry," she apologizes. Nobody would ever talk to her unless she was in their way, that was how things seemingly worked around her.

"No! You were fine where you were, I'm just going to the Garrison, and I'm just.. worried. First time away from home, y'know? My brother got in a car crash, and nobody's doing too well 'round home, so they're sending me away so I can have a better life. But, well— oh Alfor, I'm rambling. My point is, I'm just kinda looking for someone to talk to." She goes on. Pidge recognizes 'Alfor' as the king of said religion, Altean. It was an older religion, and people of it were humble and kind. Pidge immediately resented thinking that this girl only wanted to push her aside.

"It's fine, I'm Pidge, by the way." She introduces. The alias felt foreign on her tongue, even though Matt had called her it multiple times after failing to pronounce her middle name when she was younger.

"I'm Romelle." The girl smiles. Romelle leaned back against her seat and exhaled deeply. "So.. are you nervous about the school year?" She asks, trying to spark up a conversation between them. The bus paused as more people came on. It appeared they were two best friends, one holding three suitcases, the other holding none.

"Oh! Eh, yeah.. I guess you could say that." She replies, latching her hand onto her backpack, and taking out her laptop to work. She sighed, she wasn't here to make friends, and she felt terrible about that, but she could open up, or become a weak target. She couldn't get others involved, in fear that bad things would happen to them, if they discovered her secret.

"Ah.." Romelle replies, looking at Pidge's computer. "So, what are you doing?" She asks curiously. Pidge jumped and fixed the glasses, but they still remained crooked on her pale and freckled face.

"I'm just coding and programming." She replies, and that did it. Romelle had no seeming interest in technology the same way Pidge did. Romelle wasn't completely ignoring her, though. She was too sweet. Periodically she would check in to ask if Pidge needed any help with anything, and every time Pidge would reply 'no'.

The busride was endless, it was only seven hours long, but it felt more like days. Pidge accomplished building a database where she could download any files she'd manage to receive from the Garrison's own database. It was protected by multiple firewalls and viruses programmed to destroy any systems that attempted to break through.

But, all things must come to an end. Just as Pidge finished installing the last firewall, it was her and Romelle's stop. She put away her laptop, and picked up her suitcase. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she walked off of the bus. Moments later Romelle walked next to her.

"Do you happen to know what we're supposed to do?" She asks, and Pidge checks her watch,

"We head to the academic center and check in, we'll get info about our dorms and schedules and then go move in." She explains expressionlessly. Romelle nods and tags along with Pidge to the academic center. Upon entering it wasn't so bad, but within minutes the building was crowded. Luckily, Pidge was next in line.

"Next." A bored woman sighed. She had her hair in a short mullet, dyed purple with a strand of pink. She was in a black tank top, with a name tag that said 'Krolia'.

"Gunderson." Pidge stated, and she traced her finger over a list. She hands Pidge a paper with her dorm info and schedule, and gestures towards a station with laundry bags. Pidge picks up her bag and heads off. She looks over her paper, and sighs.

Gunderson, Pidge

Gender: Male

Dorm: Terras

She walks to the direction of Terras. That was the dorm her brother had lived in during his four years at Garrison Academy. The door was propped open for people to move into. She walked down the hallway until she spotted her name on a door, strangely, she was in a triple. She opened the door to find the two boys from the bus. They had taken over the bunk bed, which was fine by her.

"Hey!" Said the tall one, hanging upside down from the top bunk. After his friend shunned him and told him that it was dangerous, he turned to her s well.

"Hey, man. I'm Hunk, and this is Lance," he warmly introduces. Pidge looks at them both and turns her back to them. Putting her suitcase on the floor, she removes her clothing and puts them into her dresser. She carelessly tossed her bedsheets onto the bed, and gently rested her laptop onto the desk.

"Aren't you going to tell us your name?" Lance asks, jumping off the ladder, causing Hunk to gasp and verify he was okay. Pidge looked at them as she was putting her books onto the shelf part of her desk.

"I'm Pidge." She replies, taking the last book from her bag and sitting down on her bed to read it. Leaning against the wall, she felt weight on her bed. Lance sat down on it. She pulled down her book and looked him in the eye.

"Can you not?" She asks, and he quickly scurried over to his bed, muttering a quick 'sorry'

Hunk asses the situation and sits down in the center of the floor. Pidge puts down her book to look at him.

"What?" She asks, and he sits up, along with Lance. She looks at them puzzledly, and they share a glance. "What?" She repeated.

"Why don't we go down town, get some food, and flirt with some babes!" Lance suggests. Pidge rubs her temples, and places a bookmark into her book.

"I don't have time, I have much more important things to do." She states, crossing her arms. Lance groans loudly, and Hunk looks crestfallen.

"But the school year hasn't even started!" He whines, and Hunk nods in agreement.

"I need to get settled, I also need to finish up double modulating some programs." She replies, and Lance sighs.

"Loosen up, Pidge. Sounds like you're boring…" he grunts, and Pidge throws her book at him. He screeched, and she laughed with Hunk.

"Lance, he doesn't want to come. C'mon, let's just go together." Hunk suggested. Defeated, Lance got up and dropped the book onto the floor. He and Hunk exited the room, and Pidge let out a sigh. She got down and picked up her book, shelving it carefully with her others. She grabbed a flash drive, and left the room. Next stop: Iverson's office

"I just can't believe he can be so rude!" Lance complains to Hunk, and his friend only shook his head.

"We're all freshman, Lance. He could just be homesick." Hunk reasoned, and Lance nodded. Hunk opened the door to the pizzaria for Lance, and let the door close behind them as they entered.

"Yeah, but it's only been like an hour, I just feel like he's just not a nice guy…" Lance sighs as he and Hunk take a seat.

"Look man, that's a possibility, but we can't be so sure yet. Maybe Pidge is just an introvert?" He suggests. A blonde girl at the table next to them looks up.

"Pidge? I sat with him on the bus. He doesn't really talk much, but he seems nice, though I have a hunch he may have been bullied.. I said hi and he moved over like he was scared I'd hurt him." She says, before returning to her conversation with a tanned girl with platinum hair.

"Well, that changes perspective." Hunk tells Lance, and the lanky teen nods. Minutes later they've ordered their pizza, and the two girls left.

"Like, I just don't want to be rooming with some jerk." Lance adds, sipping his soda. Hunk looked at him and sighed. A cart wheeled up to their table and the pizza was placed on an elevated tray in the center. The waiter left, and the two boys began taking slices of the pizza.

"I'm sure he'll open up eventually." Hunk states, and begins sipping his own sods as well. "I'm sure be hasn't like, pulled a felony at all." He adds after a few sips of his drink.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Hunk couldn't have been more wrong. Now, Pidge wasn't robbing anyone or murdering anyone. She had good reason, she was going to find and rescue her family. When she found them, she was positive charges would be dropped against her, and pressed onto the Garrison for lying about disappearing people.

"And lefty loosey.." she whispers to herself as she unscrews the grate into the air vent. Gently, she rests it against the wall. Climbing in, she puts it back without screwing it in. Softly crawling through the vents, she exited them into Headmaster Iverson's office. Softly walking towards the windows facing the hallway, she closes the blinds and walks over to the computer. She typed in his password, but was flashed with 'Incorrect Password'

"Quiznak, he changed his password." She mutters under her breath. She hears the lock click and she dives under the desk, and pulled herself into a sideways box, enclosing herself into the tight space.

"Hold on, I just need to send out an email. I'll call you back later," Iverson said, and Pidge held her breath. Please, don't let her get caught on her first day, not even. "MrB0$$m@n" he says, and Pidge felt her lips curl into a smile. She had the password. After a few minutes, the computer shut off and Iverson left his office, turning off the lights and locking the door behind him.

Pidge climbed out of the box and out from under the desk. She turns on the computer and types in the password. The screen saver pops up and she smiles to herself. She plugs in the flash drive, and looks through the files. She dropped things that looked promising that she could look at into the drive, and ejects it. Shutting out of all the tabs and computer, she climbs back into the vent, screwing it shut. She ran back to her dorm and plugged the flash drive into her laptop. Files began popping up, and she dropped them into the database she had built earlier.

She had sorted through most of the files, dividing them by useless, promising, and important. As of now, the only file in 'Important' was her dad's check-in from the night he disappeared. Nothing was wrong with it, it was normal. He wasn't nervous, just talking about the organisms. She pulled her headphones out of her ears and groans.

"There's gotta be something else…" she mutters to herself before she gets an idea. She drops the video into an editing software. She drowns down her father's voice, and ups the background. There was interference, but there shouldn't have been. She downloaded the interference and listened closely. Faintly, between the static she heard a faint sequence of beeps. Pulling them up more, she translates them into morse code.

'Help, the Garrison is lying. They're abducting the smartest in order to build a super weapon strong enough to destroy humanity. If anybody finds this message, we need help. We're making our last stand.'

 **A/N welp, I've been writing this for hours! It's gonna probably be my main fanfiction. It will only have platonic ships, and a lot of angst not just for Pidge. This is mainly Pide-Centric but there will be special chapters revolving around other characters towars the end. I hope you guys enjoy! I'll update Wednesdays!**

 **-Pidgee**


	2. Chapter 2

It was late when Hunk and Lance had returned from their Pizza and Babes, as Lance had proclaimed they'd call it.

"Hey Pidge, what work did you get done?" Lance asks almost tauntingly. The small girl practically jumps out of her skin once she realized she was no longer alone.

"Oh-uh I got work done." She stuttered, unsure on what to say exactly. She couldn't just come right out and say 'Oh, I just broke into Headmaster Iverson's office and illegally downloaded some intel to prove my dad and brother are still alive. Oh, did you know the Garrison is plotting on destroying humanity?' Because of course, that would be simply too blunt and completely uncalled for.

"What kind of work?" Lance presses, and Pidge internally panics.

"Uh, just double modulating systems, downloading and building databases for protecting tests and homework.." She rambles, hoping to throw him off. It surprisingly worked, and he wasn't up in her face anymore.

"Why don't we wash up for bed, guys?" Hunk suggests. Lance nods and they both go down to the bathroom. Pidge finishes up re-reading the code for the ninety-eighth time and sighs. She truly was getting somewhere. She shuts her laptop and leaves it on her pillow. She grabs her toothbrush, toothpaste, and a t-shirt that was way too big for her, and made her way down to the bathrooms.

"Hey, Pidge." Hunk greets as she enters. She doesn't acknowledge him, and simply does what she needed to. She went into a changing stall and got changed into her pajamas.

She didn't even hear them say bye to her as Hunk helped Lance with his facial mask and products.

"And then it was like, Pow! Pow!" Came Lance's voice as Hunk opened the door. Lance was making finger guns, and as Hunk closed the door, he also shook his head.

"It's more like, pkchao pkchao." Hunk adds, and Lance sighs.

"What is that.?" Pidge asks, working on her laptop barely even looking up. Hunk and Lance stopped and climbed into their bunks.

"I can't wait for breakfast, tomorrow." Hunk moans, and Lance chuckles.

"Yeah, you really can't, man." He smiles. The two boys talk until around eleven, where they become too tired to speak. Hunk shifts his side to be facing the open area of the room. Pidge was wide awake, typing away on her laptop, but she didn't think anybody else was awake, so she took liberty in whispering to herself.

"And if I double modulate this piece of code, it should configure, causing this virus to spread.. aha! Unhackable." She smiles to herself, and Hunk smiles in the dark. Pidge really did take working seriously. Hunk closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift asleep to the soft clicks of Pidge's keyboard…

"Matt would be so proud.." she yawns, leaned back against the wall. Papers and charts littered her bed, an empty energy drink can on her desk. Her laptop sat open on her crossed legs, casting a faint glow into her face, reflecting off of her glasses.

She was tired… but she… had to.. get.. this done…. gah, she could finish in the morning.

A blaring alarm clock later, everybody was awake. Well Pidge and Hunk were, Lance had fallen back asleep. Pidge left to go use the restroom, leaving Hunk with Lance duty.

"C'mon, man.. get up! You'll be late for breakfast!" Hunk whines, and minutes later Lance had gotten up. The two friends had gotten changed, yet Pidge still hadn't returned. Lance decided to snoop around slightly. 'I just want to see what he's working on!' Was his reasoning.

Lance help up one of the charts and stared at it with confusion. It had what appeared to be static, a long series of squiggly lines, but in the middle of it all were variations of a line, short, long, in all sorts of patterns. Lance had put the paper back when Pidge's phone rang. Hunk and Lance looked at each other as they read the name of the caller.

"So his mom is calling.." Lance muttered aloud. Pidge re entered the room and picked up the phone, and answered.

"Hey, is everything okay?" She says into the phone. Hunk couldn't hear anything, but Lance had ears like a dog.

"I'm afraid your mother has been refusing to eat at all. She had a heart failure at around 6 this morning, I'm so sorry for your loss…" the woman at the other end replies with sincerity.

"O-oh. I'm glad she isn't suffering anymore. Thanks for telling me." She whispered, and hung up.

"What was that about?" Hunk asked, noticing how upset Pidge looked.

"Uh, we just had to put down my dog, Gunther." She replies, and Hunk extends his arms for a hug. She looks at him, puzzledly

"What are you doing?" She asks, and he simply laughs.

"Giving you a hug!" He replies, and Pidge found herself tightly embraced by her roommate, who she noted was like a giant teddy bear compared to her small frame

"Why would you hug me…?" She asks after the embrace had ended. Hunk looked into her eyes and smiled.

"Because you're my friend, and you needed it." He states kindly, Pidge's lip curved into a strange smile, and she put her phone into her back pocket.

"T-thanks.. and let's get breakfast." She replies, and exits the room, followed by Lance and Hunk.

The three of them had arrived at the dining hall and got into line to pick what they wanted from the buffet. Pidge stood silently in line, and awaited her turn to collect her meal. She was handed a plate, and stepped forward. She scooped a small amount of eggs with a little bacon, plus one small muffin. She filled a glass of milk and walked over to sit at a table that wasn't very crowded.

"Mind if I sit here?" A voice cuts in. She turns to see a pale boy with jet black hair, styled into a mullet. He had violet and wore a red hoodie and denim jeans.

"Sure." She replied without emotion. He sat down and picked at his eggs, taking small bites just as Pidge did. They didn't talk, which was nice. He seemed pretty antisocial, which meant Pidge didn't have to deal with constant rambling.

"Oh.. I'm Keith" he yawns, leaning forward, resting his head in his hand, elbow on table.

"Pidge." She replied, taking another bite of her eggs, when she decided she was full. She dropped her plate off at the dishes belt, and sat back down. Keith had put in earbuds, and Pidge could hear Black Parade blasting out of them. Bags hung under his eyes, mirroring Pidge's own.

Pidge took out her phone and opened instagram, looking through her alerts she found multiple insults, telling her she was unimportant, happy she has moved away, and things like that. She hit 'Add Account' and filled it out as Pidge Gunderson. New person, fresh start.

Within seconds Lance had managed to find her profile and follow her. She rolled her eyes and sighed. She put her phone in her pocket and got up to leave the dining hall. She hoped she sat with Keith more often, she didn't have to even socialize and it was amazing.

"Pidgeon!" Lance yelled, running to catch up with her. Hunk wasn't too far behind, and she looked at them both.

"..can I help you?" She asks, her hand extending for her wallet before she stopped herself.

"Just wondering if you wanted to go to the movies..? HellFest just came out, and me and Hunk are going." He rambles.

"Sure," Pidge shrugs, hiding her excitement. She needed to maintain a cool and calm image, she would not get picked up on and taken under watchful eye, no, she couldn't let that happen.

"Wait, really?" Lance asked soon after, and Pidge became confused.

"You want me to go.. right?" She verifies. Lance nods furiously and she walks off towards the library.

"Wow. He's coming out of his shell." Hunk remarked, and Lance snorted. He wrapped his neck and they march off to the dorm like the idiots they were.

"Maybe He isn't so bad." Lance sighs as he opens the door to their dorm, letting Hunk in first. Closing the door behind him, they take a seat on Hunk's bed.

"Well, I know you heard what actually happened this morning, and that Pidge was lying about it.. what happened?" Hunk asked and Lance verified Pidge wasn't at the door in that moment.

"His mom died." Lance sighed, and Hunk's face fell.

"Awh, that must be pretty hard on him. Why don't we go out and get him a cake?" He suggested. Lance nodded to the idea, and stood up.

"It would also be a good way to maybe get to know him better!" Lance adds in, and Hunk nodded. They left the room and signed off of campus in the common room. Walking down the streets, they arrived in town.

"Does he have any allergies….?" Lance finally cuts into the silence. Hunk froze and slowly turned around.

"Yeah maybe this isn't such a great idea.." he chuckled, and the two friends began walking back to the Garrison's campus. Re entering their dorm, Lance collapsed onto Hunk's bed, and groaning loudly.

"Classes are starting tomorrow, and ehhhh…" he grunts, pulling one of Hunk's pillows into his face. "Kill me" he whines, and Hunk chuckles. Taking back his pillow, he collapses alongside Lance.

"Why didn't he cry?" Hunk sighed, staring at the wooden planks of the top bunk. Lance turned his head towards his best friend.

"Hm?" He asked, clearly exhausted from the walk to and back from town. Hunk sighed, and turned his head towards Lance.

"His mom died, man. And he didn't cry," Hunk clarified, and Lance thought for a few minutes.

"I'm.. not sure" Lance finally replied, returning to his s position, staring at the ceiling where Hunk had placed stars that would faintly glow after exposure to light.

And of course, that was the moment Pidge had entered the room. Of course, she also had no idea what was going on while she burst in, so she didn't bat an eye at Lance and Hunk's frozen and tired faces. Dropping her laptop onto her bed, she layed down and took off her glasses, resting them on her desk.

"So, when is the movie?" She asks, and Lance ponders for a moment, before jolting up.

"In like an hour! Let's go, go go!" He shouts, Pidge and Hunk struggling to get up. Pidge grabs her glasses and picks up a hoodie. She tossed it on and slipped on her black converse. Hunk slips on his army boots, and Lance gets his sneakers on.

"How far away is the theater?" Pidge asks, pocketing her phone and pushing hair that slid out of its place behind her ear.

"Bout's half an hour away." Hunk answers, and she opens the door. Lance pushes Hunk, and grabs Pidge's arm at the last second. The two of them get dragged down the hallway, and onto a public bus. Lance tells the busdriver their location, and they all walk to the back of the bus, once again one elongated seat. Pidge sighs and takes the window seat, gazing out as the bus moved along the roads.

"I'm so excited!" Lance squeals, and Hunk pats his back. Pidge shifts her attention to her two roommates, and watches the scene play out

"I'm honestly nervous, I mean, like, people die! I know it's fake, but I still always feel bad…" Hunk explained, and Pidge subconsciously nodded along. Hunk was right, innocent people died… like her mom. No, she'd have to stop thinking that way if she wanted to find her father and brother.

"I think it may be a good break for me to loosen up." Pidge states truthfully. She really had made progress, understanding the reason they disappeared. She simply needed to find where they were, and if it was a super weapon of sorts, it would emit signals that would screw with her radioactive wave scanners. She just needed a place with a strong signal to begin her scans.

"You've been working non stop and school hasn't even started! You need to chill out, man!" Lance replies, and Pidge sighs. He had a good reason, but she had an even better one. This was something she couldn't possibly just "Chill out" with. It was a life and death matter, people's lives were at stake. And she wouldn't be able to live with herself if people died because she became lazy.

"I.. guess." she replies, not really meaning it. If he was bothered by it, she'd just work when she's most awake, night time.

Their conversation and thoughts were cut off as the bus stopped to let them out for the movie. Lance had sprinted off the bus, but Hunk and Pidge had just walked off like normal people. They had met up with Lance at the entrance and entered the building. The trio had gotten in line to buy their tickets, and waited.

"Hello, I'm Veronica. How may I help you?" the woman behind the counter greeted with a strained smile.

"Three tickets to Hellfest, please." Hunk asked politely, handing her a fifty dollar bill. She placed it into the cash register, taking out three tickets and handing them to Hunk. Lance stepped out from behind Hunk, and Veronica groaned.

"Please tell me you're not here to get free food, Lance." She groaned, and Lance shook his head.

"No, I'm here with my friends to watch a movie." He smirked, and she gawked. Looking him in the eyes, and snorted.

"You? Friends? Ha!" She laughed, shooing them to the food line so she could deal with the next people in line.

"Yep, well that's my sister." Lance shrugged, ordering a soda and some popcorn. Everyone had ordered a soda and some popcorn as well, and they walked off to the theater that Hellfest was showing in. They picked seats in the middle, and sat down for the movie. Previews played, and the movie began.

"Dude, this isn't funny anymore." The girl on screen muttered. Seconds later she was murdered, and Hunk had jumped in his seat.

"Aw, liked her." He whispered to Lance, who chuckled. The movie ended about half an hour later, and the trio began picking up their trash, tossing it out as they exited the theater. They got onto the bus, and road back home. Pidge stared out the window, while Lance and Hunk discussed the movie.

"Pidge, it's our stop." Hunk nudged. Pidge jumped and nodded, scurrying out after her two roommates. They entered the dorm, and Pidge collected her supplies to take a shower. Hunk went to go get snacks.

Lance had been straightening up his bed when Pidge's phone rang, he was alone in the room, and didn't know if he should check who it was. Though, she had a phone that announced the name out loud, so it would say who it was eventually.

"Call from, Max." It read. Lance was curious now, who was Max. Hesitantly, he picked up the phone, Pidge wouldn't get too mad at him for reading her messages, right?

"Hello?" He asked into the phone.

"Hey, Katie. Did you kill yourself, yet?" The voice from the other end asked. Freaked out, Lance hung up. Katie? Who was Katie? Did the guys have the wrong number? No, he was in Pidge's contacts…

Wait, was Pidge a girl?

Lance dropped the phone back onto Pidge's desk, and sat down on his desk chair, staring at the wall.

"Maybe he has a twin named Katie..?" He mutters to himself, catching a glimpse of a picture sticking out of a book. Walking over to the book, he picks it up and takes out the photo. It was of two similar looking kids, one looking like Pidge, the other was a girl with long hair. Their arms were wrapped around each other, and they were smiling. He put the picture back, and puts the book back on his shelf.

"Hey, man." Hunk greets, coming into the room with an armful of potato chip bags, and dumping them on his bed.

"Hey!" Lance smiles, forgetting about the Katie incident. Pidge just had a twin named Katie, Max had pranked Pidge, simple as that

"Hungry?" Hunk asks, extending his hand, holding a potato chip bag to Lance. Lance accepts the bag and opens it, dumping some chips into his mouth, crunching.

"Hey," Pidge says, entering the room. She was in green pajamas, and looked exhausted. Her hair was dripping wet. She climbed into her bed and pulled her laptop close to her. Lance threw away his empty chip bag and climbed into his bed, Hunk soon following suit. Clicking of computer keys echoed throughout the room, accompanied by Hunk's loud snores.

"Hey, Pidge?" Lance asks, turning his body to face the small kid working at one am. She paused her typing.

"Hm?" she asks, continuing her typing on her laptop. Lance seriously wondered what she was working on, to keep her up so late before the school year even started.

"Do you have any siblings..?" he asked, and she paused her typing once again. She couldn't say she had an older brother, that'd be suspicious.

"Uhm.. I have a twin named Katie." she lied, hoping Lance would buy it. Well, he'd fallen for her disguise and past lies, so there was nothing giving away. It was just a little white lie so she could survive, finding her family.

"Cool. I have two sisters, and two brothers. You met Veronica earlier at the theater, Rachel is going to Leon Academy this year. Marco graduated, and Luis is just in seventh grade." Lance whispers, clicking continuing through the following silence.

"You should sleep." Pidge informs Lance blankly, dimming her screen slightly. Lance sighs and sits up slightly.

"You should too, it's almost two am." Lance replies, and Pidge mumbles something about a database before shutting her laptop, moving it to her desk.

"Yeah, we do have classes tomorrow. Good night." she mutters, pulling her sheets up to her shoulders and closing her eyes, inhaling slowly in a calming pattern. Lance fell asleep, and Pidge soon after.

Blinding rays of sunlight hit Romelle's face as she slowly blinked open her eyes. Sitting up, she slipped on her pink slippers and stood, walking over to her roommate, Allura's, bed. Slowly nudging her, Allura turned and groaned.

"Just five more dobashes…" she mumbles, and Romelle snickers. Nudging Allura again, the tanned girl sat up, rubbing her sky blue eyes. "Morning already?" She yawns, stretching out her arms. Getting out of bed, Allura's waves fell elegantly over her shoulders.

"Get up, you lazy lump! It's our first day of classes!" Romelle squeaks, and Allura giggles.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting up!" She laughs, patting the large terrarium that her four mice lived in.

"I'm going to get changed." Romelle announced, and Allura nodded as she herself approached her dresser to pull out a sky blue sundress. She pulled it over her shoulders and sat down to fix up her makeup.

Romelle had put on a pink and white plaid skirt with a white cropped T-shirt. Her hair pulled back in two pigtails. Once Allura was ready, the two girls pulled on their shoes and headed to the dining hall.

"Morning, Pidge!" Romelle smiles cheerfully as she stood next to said person in the line for the buffet. Pidge turns and awkwardly waves.

"Morning, Romelle." She says tiredly, bags clearly hanging under her eyes. Allura came up behind Romelle and smiled warmly.

"Good morning! You must be Pidge!" She smiles, extending a hand for Pidge to shake. "I'm Allura." She introduces as the three girls were handed plates. Stepping forward in line, they scooped up bits of egg and bacon, and collected glasses of water, milk, or juice.

"So where do you sit?" Romelle asks kindly and Pidge simply shrugs.

"I usually sit with Keith, we just eat and listen to Panic! At the Disco." She explained, and walked towards Keith, his earbuds already in his ear as he nodded along to the beat she recognized as High Hopes.

"Well, we'll see you later!" Romelle says as she and Allura take a seat at one of the larger tables with Lance and Hunk.

"I'm Romelle, this is Allura." The blonde introduces to the two boys sitting across from them.

"Name's Lance." The tanned boy winks, and Allura groans loudly.

"I'm Hunk." The other boy shyly smiles, and Romelle returns the gesture.

"So, are you two roommates?" Romelle asks, and they nod.

"Well, Pidge is also our roommate. We got the triple this year." Hunk explains thoroughly. Romelle nods, and takes a large bite of her eggs.

"What do you have first?" Lance asked the group, who all peered down at their phones to look at their schedules.

"I have art first." Romelle announces, and Allura sighs with frustration.

"I do as well! I'm terrible at drawing! Once I tried to draw my NanNan, but it looked like a flan-bil-diplor!" She whines, referencing one of the mythological creatures of the Altean religion.

"There, there." Romelle says calmly, patting Allura's back as she slumped into the table. "I'm sure we won't be starting any projects today." She added, which did make Allura feel slightly better.

"I have coding." Hunk shrugs, shutting off his phone and putting it into his pocket.

"Dance." Lance responds, and smirks with passion. He had been dancing since elementary school, and he didn't care that he would be judged for it.

"How exciting!" Romelle squeals, clasping her hands together, excited for what the day would bring.

Pidge and Keith ate in silence, both listening to their own depressing music, losing themselves in thought.

Half an hour had passed, and Pidge took her dishes to the belt and sat back down, taking out her computer. She had coding first, which was exciting. She was probably not going to learn anything, but it would be nice to sharpen her skills a bit more.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Pidge tucked her laptop under her arm and exited the dining hall on her way to the computer lab, which was in the library.

Halfway there, Hunk jogged up next to her clearly out of breath from his run. Catching his breath, he slowed his pace to not get too far ahead of Pidge.

"What— class?" He asked, still catching his breath.

"Coding." She replied, adjusting her grip on her laptop. She straightened her back and pushed through the library door.

"Me too!" He smiles, finally breathing at a normal speed.

"Cool." She replies, opening the door for the computer lab and taking a seat.

"Keith Kogane?" The dance teacher called, looking up from her list and scanning the room.

"Here." Mumbled a low voice, uninterested in being in the large room full of people. He only expected like five other dancers, not twenty.

"Ina Leifsdottir?" The teacher asked once more, and a pale hand shot up signalling that she was present.

"Lance McClain?" She asked, setting the clipboard down. Looking around the room once more.

"Here and ready to dance!" Lance announced with spirit, causing a few of the fellow dancers to groan.

"Okay! File up and stretch out. I'm your teacher, Miss Luxia." She announced. Miss Luxia has long blue and yellow hair pulled back in loops, she had sky blue eyes and wore black leggings with a tank top.

As the beginning of the year, the class had been split up into two groups of ten for a dance-off, a fun way to show Miss Luxia their skills. Within each group, every member was given a number between one and ten, to determine their opponent.

"Three!" Miss Luxia called, and Lance stepped forward, as well as Keith. Lance began with ballet, gracefully leaping and diving, balanced on his toes. Keith took a different approach. It was like a mix between gymnastics, dance, and fighting. He'd dodge to sides, roll and backflip up, and he landed in a crouched position. Lance!s jaw dropped, and he shook his head.

"Woah!" One of the girls on Keith's team, Nadia, gasped. "He's better than Lance!" She adds, and said person clenches his fists in anger.

"Team Red gets a point." Luxia announces, refereeing that Keith's dancing had won. Lance worked so hard, to be beaten by a short emo mullet!

Romelle and Allura had arrived at the art center and had taken a seat at a table. A woman with dyed blue and blonde hair pulled back in two pigtails sat up from her desk.

"Hey! I'm Miss Nagua, but just call me Plaxum." She introduces with a kind smile. Allura's face brightened, perhaps art wouldn't be as horrid as she imagined.

"Hello, Plaxum!" Romelle smiles, waving gently towards the art teacher. Plaxum giggled and walked towards the front of the room, airplaying something from her tablet.

"Today we're just going to draw how we see ourselves, and some background information." She announces, and Allura sighs, she just needed a stick figure, right?

In no time, it was lunch, and Lance had grudgingly made his way to sit down next to Hunk, and surprisingly Pidge was at the table as well. Romelle and Allura entered the building soon after. The five of them had no classes together in the morning, only afternoons.

"What's wrong, man?" Hunk asked, putting down his halfway eaten burger to look at Lance.

"This emo kid beat me in dance!" He whines, smacking his head onto the table. Allura sighed and shook her head,

"Who?" Pidge asked, nibbling on a peanut-butter cookie. Her glasses were on the table on top of her laptop, and her amber eyes looked exhausted.

"Keith!" Lance whined. "Keith beat me at a dance off! He beat me! Lance dance revolution!" He adds to his statement, leaning on his elbow, taking a bite out of an apple.

"Keith Kogane?" Pidge asked, finishing her cookie and wiping her hands with a napkin.

"Yeah!" Lance confirmed, and she looked over at a corner where Keith sat alone, listening to earbuds,

"He can dance?" She gawked, putting on her glasses to look closer. "No way!" She adds, turning back to the table. She got up to put her plate away and sat back down, waiting for lunch to be over. The group had realized they all had Space Exploration Religion together after lunch, which excited Pidge and Hunk, at least about the space exploration part.

"I believe we may cover Altean and Galran! Two of the most overlooked religions!" Romelle squeals, and Allura laughs.

"We should get going to the academic center." Pidge said, looking up from her watch. She pulled her hoodie over her black t-shirt and tossed her bag over her shoulder, picking her laptop up and tucking it under her arm.

"Yeah, c'mon guys." Hunk smiled, gathering his bag as well as he stood next to Pidge. The remaining three teens dealt with their plates and headed out the door. They walked into the academic center, following the room numbers until they entered the class.

Keith looked up from his phone as the five people entered the room. The tables had name tags, and Lance was furious that he was sitting next to his 'Nemesis'. Romelle and Allura were together, Hunk was with a girl named Shay, who arrived minutes after the others, and seemed very sweet. As the professor entered the classroom and took a seat at his desk, a boy with long white hair and violet eyes entered and took his seat next to Pidge.

"Ah, greetings! I'm Coran!" the professor smiled, twirling his mustache. He picked up a clipboard and looked over it. "Time for a role call! Lotor Auriande?" He asked, and the boy next to Pidge blew a strand of hair away from his face.

"Here." He mumbles in a british accent, looking like he'd rather be dead than in the class.

"Shay Balmeran?" He called next, and the girl next to Hunk shyly raised her hand, silently whispering 'here'.

"Hunk Garrett?"

"Here."

"Pidge Gunderson?" Coran asked next, and Pidge adjusted her glasses and turned her focus to Coran.

"Here." She answered, placing her laptop in front of her, instead of leaving it on the floor.

"Who names their child 'Pidge?'" Lotor rudely asks, and Pidge tried so hard not to kill him. Taking in a deep breath she looked at him.

"Says the kid named Lotor." She retorts, and he mumbled something out of anger. Though, it was a language she did not understand, it was obviously a insult. She returned her focus the lesson.

"Religions are something that we need to learn more about, for example, the Altean religion was formed after a comet hit a small town in Britain. The citizens believed that it was sent from gods of another planet, and came to worship their new king, Alfor." He explained, and Romelle and Allura shared glances.

"Coran, Allura and I are of said religion," Romelle smiles, and Coran returns the gesture.

"As am I." He sighs, twirling his moustache. Pidge sighs and begins sprawling out notes about the religion.

"Studious, I see." Lotor whispered in her ear, and she jumped. She glared at him and continued her notes.

"A similar religion is Galran. The religion warships an emperor named Zarkon, but it has dark roots. Most of the 'warshipping' was forced upon others to serve their emperor, even when it seems meaningless. The religion would only stop at victory or death." He explained, and Pidge scribbled it down quickly, careful not to miss any information.

Coran had explained more of the two religions, and the bell had rang signaling it was time to head to the next class. Pidge gathered her stuff and scurried out the door, peeking at her schedule. Strangely, the school only had four classes a day, each being an hour and twenty five minutes long. Her last class of the day was P.E, which she still wasn't happy about.

And of course, they were playing dodgeball. Pidge swore she'd hack into the system to get her out of gym, she needed to be alive to find her family.

It's fair to say that Pidge was ready to die by the end of P.E. She grabbed her bag and walked back to the dorm, accepting the cool air against her warm skin.

The building of Terra came into view, and Pidge sighed with relief. She opened the door, and walked down the left hallway to reach her room. She opened the door, to find Lance and Hunk had yet to return. She shrugged, and tossed her bag onto the floor and collected clothing to wear after a shower.

She walked into the bathroom, and entered an available shower. She finished, and dried off. Taking the bath matt that hung on the wall, she stepped onto it and got changed. She re entered her room in a NASA shirt and grey cargo shorts, her hair a mess, sticking out in ways that defied gravity.

She had sat down to work on her research when Lance burst through the door, startling Pidge.

"What..?" She asked, annoyed at Lance's entrance. He gasped for breath, his hands on his knees. "Just get to the point." She adds coldly.

"Romelle— she's in the— hospital—"


	3. Chapter 3

"She's what!?" Pidge screeches, shutting her laptop and tossing it onto her pillow, leaping to her feet. "This isn't funny, Lance!" She adds in, fear in her eyes. Had Iverson figured her out? Was this her fault—?

"Allura said she looked like she caught a cold after swimming, and then she just passed out!" Lance explains. "The ambulance just left, Coran's going to give us a ride to the hospital. He really likes Allura and Romelle." He adds. Pidge nods, and follows Lance to the front of the dorm where Coran's car was parked. Hunk, and Allura were already inside.

"Are you ready?" Coran asked, igniting the engine. Pidge and Lance climbed into the back of the car. Pidge tapped her lap impatiently as they pulled out of the lot.

"Does anybody know anything else..?" Hunk asked with worry evident in his voice. Allura sighed and tapped her finger on her lap repeatedly.

"No, I'm afraid.." She responded as their surroundings shifted to Arus City. Coran pulled into the parking lot of Olkarion Hospital, and the teens filled out. They rushed into the building, and Allura reached the front desk first, her face creased from worry. "Romelle Colonia, is- is she okay?" she asked the receptionist. The lady smiled as she typed the name into her computer.

"Yes, she's fine. In fact you can head into visit her, if you'd like." She continues smiling as she stands up to take the group to the hospital room. Romelle sat propped up in a bed, dressed in a hospital gown She was attached to some IVs, and other instruments.

"Hey.." The girl weakly smiles, and Allura runs up to the bedside and hugged Romelle. Romelle squeaks and lightly laughs.

"You shouldn't be doing that, Allura." Romelle weakly smiled as she gestured towards the medical equipment. "You don't want to accidentally kill me!" She laughs, lightly punching Allura's shoulder.

Pidge, Lance, and Hunk remained closer to the door, and Coran was seated in a chair, smiling at Allura and Romelle's interactions.

The doctor entered the room with a clipboard and stood next to Romelle's bed. He looked around the room at the guests and deeply exhaled.

"You can tell them." Romelle smiles, looking away from Allura to face the doctor

"About five years ago Ms. Colonia was diagnosed with Leukemia. Leukemia is a form of cancer that targets blood, hindering the body's ability to fight infection. Ms. Colonia caught a cold, and her body failed to fight it, that is why she passed out." The doctor explains. The glint in Allura's eyes faded as she sighed.

"And doesn't Leukemia kill the patient within around five years since diagnosis?" She asks wearily. The doctor bit his lip and solemnly nodded. Romelle wasn't going to live much longer, was she?

"Guys, I'll be fine. Let's live in the moment, not the future." Romelle smiles brightly, and the feeling spread around the room, eradicating the solemn atmosphere.

"She's right." Pidge mumbles, adjusting her glasses. She walked up to Romelle and Allura. "Romelle will be out of the hospital later today or tomorrow, it was just a cold and she's fine. Let's head back to school before we miss dinner." She adds, resting her hand on Allura's shoulder.

"You're right. Romelle, I'll see you tomorrow." Allura exhales, standing up and walking towards the door. The group followed, and they headed to Coran's car. The engine was once again ignited, and they were off.

About forty five minutes later, they had arrived back on campus. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk were dropped off at Terra and Coran took Allura to Arus.

The trio entered their room and collected whatever they needed for nightly activities. All three of them had swimming, which Lance was joyous about.

"Bye." Pidge mumbles as she exits the room with her bag slung over her shoulder. She gently shuts the door and heads down the hallway. She checked her watch before opening the front door, a gust of cool September wind bristling into her face, sending a few hairs askew.

She stepped onto the paved sidewalk, a pattern of taps as she calmly walked across the sidewalks of the luscious campus until she had arrived at the dining hall. Pushing the doors open, she stepped into the mostly cleared out buffet line. Soon, she was handed a plate and ushered forward.

Pidge had selected a small caesar salad, alongside a fruit cup and a glass of water. Instead of sitting with Lance, Hunk, and Allura, she went to sit with Keith. Gently setting her plate and cups down, she took a seat and began mindlessly nibbling, staring off into the blank beige walls of the large room.

"Pidge! Come join us!" Allura's welcoming voice entered Pidge's senses. The small girl put down her fork alongside the barely touched food to face the platinum haired girl. Allura's grin was obviously forced, a sign that she had truly not believed Romelle would be okay.

"Uh, I guess it wouldn't hurt…" Pidge mumbles, picking up her plate, and Allura grabbed the cups for her. Pidge slung her bag over her shoulder, and trudged towards the table where Lance and Hunk sat, deep in a conversation. Allura daintily returned back to her seat, as Pidge pulls out the chair next to Allura and plopped down.

"Are you worried about her?" Allura asked, her face creased with worry for her dear friend. Amongst the buzzed chatter of the surrounding students, Pidge had barely even heard her.

"Allura, she'll be okay." Pidge soothes, pushing her plate away. She wasn't hungry, plus she did have swimming directly after lunch. Allura exhaled, and rested her chin in the palm of her sunkissed hand.

"I suppose you're correct.." She whispers, staring off into the vast horizon that lay past the large windows near the south end of the Dining Hall. Birds soared through the blue streaked skies, fluffy clouds rolling across the sun, emitting different colors and shades of blue, as well as pink.

"I always am." Pidge jokes, attempting to lift the heavy burden that surrounded the group of friends. Wait, friends? No.. this was already falling apart. She's put everyone in danger of being expelled or arrested. She needed to slowly and gradually back away, returning to her corner of isolation.

"Yes, I suppose that is also somewhat correct." Allura smirked deviously, and Pidge clasped her hand over her heart as if she'd been shot through it. Allura giggled lightly, showing that she was improving her her upset state.

"Agh, nightly activities are starting soon, I must head off to the tennis courts, they're all the way across campus.." The tanned girl mumbled, dropping her dishes off at the conveyor belt and picking up her sports bag. Pidge watched as she exited the dining hall, and she too dropped off her plate. She walked into the bathroom and changed into a silky swim shirt, along with shorts.

"You ready, man?" Lance asks from outside the door. Pidge shoves all of her clothing back into her backpack and lazily tosses it over her left shoulder, feeling it flop into her back. Pidge exited the bathroom, and nodded.

"Yeah, let's go." She mumbles briskly, speed walking out of the building, and walking across the street to the athletics center where the pool was located. She gently placed her bag on a bench in a seemingly forgotten area of the locker room, and met up with Lance and Hunk, who just simply took off their shirts, because they had put on their swim trunks prior to dinner.

"Pool is just through that door." Lance informs her, and she groans with annoyance. She kicked Lance in the kneecaps and smirked as he buckled over with the shock of her hit.

"Don't baby me, Lance. I know more than you." She mumbles, which was completely true. She knew the Garrison was planning on killing most of Earth, or enslaving it. Which ever one it was, Pidge didn't understand why. She didn't even think she wanted to.

Hunk chuckles for a few seconds before verifying Lance was okay, and not going to pass out or anything. Pidge entered the pool room and was hit with the strong scent of chlorine, which disappointed her. They should at least get a saltwater pool. If you mixed chlorine with the wrong chemicals, they can kiss their school goodbye.

"Jeez, is he okay?!" Lance hisses at Hunk, who simply shrugs. Lance groans and drags a stunned Hunk into the pool room. It was the first day, and they were informed they had a free swim.

"Where's Pidge?" Hunk asks, scanning the water. Lance recognized Nadia and Ina from dance class, and they were with two boys. One of the boys had brown hair, with a lock of it pulled over his left eye. His skin was relatively pale, and he had brown eyes. The other boy had chestnut brown skin with an emotionless expression upon his face. His dark brown hair sat in wet dreadlocks as Nadia giggled over something that nobody else found funny.

"I don't see him." Lance shrugs, dipping a toe into the pool water. It was warm, but not too warm. It was the temperature of a sunny spring day, it felt like sunshine was embracing you gently, but was engulfed in a warm, gentle, breeze. Lance smiled as the sensation reminded him of Varadero Beach back in Cuba. He removed his toe and climbed up a diving board, stretching before he decided to leap in.

Hunk didn't jump in, he simply slowly entered through the staircase. A group of girls were huddled in one area of the pool, probably gossiping.

"I heard that Romelle girl is in the hospital because she's pregnant!" one girl said snarkily. Her hair was pulled into four ponytails, but loosely hung to give it a more natural look. She had violet eyes and very pale skin, light pink lipstick on her lips.

"But we're freshman…?" Another girl replies, shaking her hair. It was cut in a pixie cut, and dyed magenta. She had olive skin and brown eyes. She wore large hoop earrings, and crossed her arms.

"Luki, Nyma, It can't be true, Romelle is too sweet to do that." A girl who Hunk recognized as the one and only Shay mumbled with sincerity. "Trust me." she added, pleaing with her eyes. The other two girls, Luki and Nyma rolled their eyes before they began a new conversation. Hunk waded away from them and reached Lance, who was flirting with Nadia.

"Lance, stop." Hunk facepalmed, latching onto the Cuban's arm as he dragged him away from the group. Nadia appeared confused, and Hunk apologized for Lance's actions.

"Aww, Hunk!" Lance whined, pushing water into the Hawaiian's face. Hunk deviously smirked as he picked up some of the water with his large hands.

"Oh, you're on!" he laughs, tossing it at Lance. The two began a water fight, and Pidge observed from a seat on the shore of the pool. She sat down, covering herself with her towel. It was becoming freezing, and if there was one thing the world should know about the Holt's, it's that they absolutely resent the cold.

The cold was unforgiving, and murderous. Great NanNan always told her grandchildren stories about how one winter they'd been caught in a terrible blizzard, and barely escaped with their lives. The story was most likely the reason for the resentment, but nobody really knew for certain.

And of course, that was when Hunk and Lance had spotted her. Lance eagerly waved towards her, as Hunk shoved him off his feet. Pidge giggled lightly as Lance emerged from the water, shaking the pool water out of his hair as if he were a dog.

"No thanks!" she called over the echo of the room, and she could tell Lance was whining. She put on a straight face and shook her head. Lance slumped, and continued his war with Hunk.

"Tweet!" the lifeguard called, signalling it was time to get out of the water. The teens trudged out of the pool, dripping wet. They collected their towels and dried off. Pidge entered the locker room to collect her bag. She picked it up from where she left it, and exited the athletic center.

She took in the evening breeze and wrapped her dry towel around her tighter, goosebumps running down her pale and freckled arms. She shivered once more, and pushed open the door to the dorm.

"Greetings!" One of the boys in the dorm, Slav, she think it was, greeted. She waved and trudged down the left hallway, opening the door to her room. She gently closed it, and walked over to her bed. She quickly slipped on her comfy green pajamas, relishing as the warm fabrics met her cold skin. She exhaled with relief as Hunk and Lance burst in, surprising her.

"Hey, Pidge. Lance and I are just gonna wash up and go to bed, mkay?" Hunk mumbles, exhaustion evident in his eyes. Pidge nodded and collected her supplies for washing up as well.

Pidge, Lance, and Hunk had all gotten ready and had climbed into their beds. Pidge collected her laptop and phone. A ding went off as she received a text. She opened it, and it was a photo of Romelle and Allura.

'Romelle's back!' was what the text said, and Pidge understood it to have been Allura as the sender.

"Romelle's back." she announced as she went to check herr other messages. There were a few taunts from Max and his friends. Pidge hesitantly opened them and sighed with slight annoyance as rude messages came up on screen.

She deleted them, and shut off her phone. She gently lifted the metal lid of her laptop, allowing the luminescent screen to illuminate the room before she dimmed it. She began re looking through the files with her headphones, running a program that would uncover any similar codes to the one prior.

"Hey Pidge?" Lance drowsily asks as Pidge removed her headphones to give her ears a break from the weight the headphones had added.

"Hm?' She replies in a similar tone, getting up to collect an energy drink from one of her drawers.

"Could you sleep? Your keyboard is keeping me awake.." he mumbles, turning around pulling his sheets gently closer to his chest. "Please?" he adds for good measure.

With a defeated sigh, Pidge put the drink back in her drawer and shut her laptop, putting it onto her desk. She pulled the sheets over her, and curled up against her pillow. Lance smiles as he shuts his eyes, allowing the soft lulling melody of sleep pull him under.

Matt smiled at her as she embraced him tightly, avoiding pulling anything necessary off of his backpack. It was the end of the year senior camping trip, and Matt being the weeb he was, became psyched about the trip, making sure he was prepared for anything. And oh boy, Katie meant everything.

"What's the fireworks for?" she had asked him, and he smiled brightly, gazing towards the sky as if he were some superhero.

"Just in case I need to do something illegal." he finally shrugged, and Katie snorted out a laugh, and Matt had joined in. "What? I must be prepared!" He had reasoned, stifling his laughter

"Or you literally want an excuse to buy whatever you want." She had added, giving him one last hug goodbye as he and dad entered the bus that would take them off the the campsite. Katie was twelve, why should she suspect things would go wrong?

A few days later there was a knock on the front door. It all happened so quickly that Katie didn't really remember what happened.

And that was the night she broke. She punched her mirror, it shattered cutting her knuckles open. She had other intentions that night, but couldn't bring herself to leave her mother.

Though her mother felt differently. Two days later Colleen collapsed, because she'd been starving herself. It all went down quickly; Colleen was taken to the hospital, and Katie was left alone with pain and memories.

Was she even loved?

Pidge jolted awake, tears in her eyes. Her chest rapidly moved up and down as she choked on her sobs. She commanded herself to breathe, but it wasn't working. Her brain was betraying her. She screamed, not realizing that she took in air as she did so. She hugged her knees and leaned against her wall, her eyes widening in pure fear. Of what?

What was she scared of? She was going to die now, her breaths were short and choppy, and she continued to choke on sobs, tears rolling freely down her pale cheeks.

"Pidge?" Lance mumbled with exhaustion, rolling over as rays of moonlight hit the small figure. His eyes widened and he scrambled down the ladder, and sat down next to Pidge. He rubbed circles into her back, yet her breaths remained ragged. "Hey, Pidge, can you tell me who that is?" he asked, gesturing towards a sleeping Hunk. the large man had slept through her screams and sobs, and she took in a deep breath.

"H-Hunk." she whispered. Her breaths evened out and Lance sighed with relief, swarming the small girl with a tight hug.

"You okay? You had a panic attack.." Lance asked, and Pidge wiped away her tears, pushing Lance away from her.

"I'm fine, go back to sleep. It was just a nightmare." she lied. Lance exhaled and returned to his bed. He pulls the covers up to the crook of his neck and listens as Pidge does the same.

"Night." he whispers gently, shutting his eyes once again. Sleep pulled over him as he heard a gentle voice.

"Goodnight, Lance."

The day had passed quickly with nothing eventful. Coran was joyous about Romelle's healthy return, yet shocked she only needed one night to recover, given her condition. Shaking it off as luck, the day continued. Though, after dinner there was a bonfire.

"Pidgey!" Lance whined, roasting a marshmallow. Though, he paid no attention to the snack as he whined for the girl to sit with them.

Pidge insisted she stay near the torches that drove away mosquitos, due to the fact she hated getting bitten by the vial creatures, as she's claimed

Since Lance had paid no attention, his marshmallow soon caught on fire, yet still remained unaware of the flaming stick in his grasp. It wasn't until Nadia had pointed it out as if it were no big deal that Lance had freaked out. The flame had spread up the wooden stick, and the end with the marshmallow had already collapsed into the fire pit.

With a shriek, Lance had dropped the stick, setting the surrounding grass on fire. Keith had grabbed a seltzer can and doused the fire out, yet the students were still frozen at the face the grass was just on fire, thanks to Mr. McLame.

While the fire incident was over, the students began where they dropped off, serving barbeque, hamburgers, and other snacks that you'd have at a bonfire. Over the screams and roars of the partying kids, nobody noticed Slav Traz disappear.

Things were getting a whole lot worse, and it would only be a matter of time before more kids began disappearing thanks the the Garrison's master plan.

"Okay kids, party over!" Iverson yelled with annoyance over the loud partying, and everything stopped. The teens packed up whatever they brought and trudged back to the dorm.

It was probably the most tranquil the Terra dorm had been as of now until the dorm councillors called a meeting. Everyone gathered into the common room, sitting down in the sofas and chairs, looking at the councillors with curiosity for the reason behind the meeting.

"One of our students has gone missing." Ryner said with authority. The elder woman looked over the room at the student's confused faces, as they themselves looked around the room trying to figure out who was missing.

"Yoohoo." Sven mumbled in his strong Australian accent. He leaned against a wall, his arms crossed.

"It was Sven's roommate, Slav.." Ryner added with dismay, yet nobody in the dorm batted an eye. Sure, it really was terrible, and probably the most terrifying thing they'd every experience, but nobody could argue with the fact Slav was a perfectionist, and annoyed everybody with his constant complaining.

"Oh no." James mumbled with fake sarcasm, and his roommate, Ryan silently nodded along. The two boys left the common room and went for their room. The other kids in Terra followed along, until Pidge, Hunk, and Lance were the only students left in the room. Ryner smiled and looked at them.

"I trust that you will notify me with any information you may gather." she nodded with honesty, heading down the right wing to her apartment at the end of the hall.

"That's scary.." Hunk said, biting his nails. Lance cracked his neck and sat up from the sofa, Pidge and Hunk soon following. They walk to their room and get ready for bed. Nobody speaks a word that night. They climb into bed and sleep.

"Goodnight."

Before anybody knew it, the first week of school was over and everyone was exhausted. Pidge found a coffee shop nearby campus, and decided to spend most of Saturday curled up in the corner of the shop with coffee and her laptop.

Lance had roamed around with Hunk, exploring the extending campus.

Romelle and Allura went shopping a lot, and did a lot of 'Girls Night Out'.

Pidge managed to get into the Garrison's database by hacking through their website. She kept uncovering different layers until she uncovered a second website. It had lists of students, alongside their scores and IQs.

"What the—" she mumbles as she scrolls through the list. Some names were red, which confused her. That was until she read over the names in red.

Matthew Holt

19yrs

IQ-273

Samuel Holt

57yrs

IQ-289

Slav Traz

15yrs

IQ-196

And that was when she stopped reading the names. The Garrison was taking these people, and she had to stop them. And she hates herself for thinking this; but she needed help. She couldn't do this alone.

She opened her phone and turned on her VPN. She opened and sent a text.

Pidgeon Guys, I have something really important I need to tell you. Meet me at Starbucks.

Lance k? Me hunk will b there in a few mins.

Princess Of course!

Keith Uh, am I supposed to be in this?

Pidgeon Yeah, just hurry up.

She shut off her phone entirely and shut her computer, to save the battery until the others arrived. Romelle and Allura arrived first, followed by Keith, and then Lance and Hunk. The four teenagers sat around Pidge.

"What?" Keith asked, annoyed that he was asked to come out in public.

"The Garrison has been lying to all of us. Remember last year when the camping trip failed and Takashi, Sam, and Matt disappeared?" She asked, her eyes serious so nobody dared ask a question.

"Yeah." Romelle replies, her blonde hair spilling over her back as she leaned forward. "Why?" She adds.

"Because they didn't disappear. The Garrison is kidnapping people with high IQs in order to build some weapon." She adds, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

"Hold on, we don't know that for certain—" Hunk reasons, holding his hands out in a balancing gesture. Pidge shook her head.

"No. I know." She sighed, opening her laptop and showing them her screen. Allura's eyes widened, as well as Lance, and Hunk. Keith leaned in.

"What about Shiro?" He asked, looking over the list. "He was taken. Why isn't he on it."

"I… I think he was taken because he was with Sam and Matt… as far as I know, all of the disappearances happened near the woods. The camping trips, the bonfires, graduation…" she lists, counting off her fingers. "All of those took place on the dates of disappearance. And all of them are next to, or in Daibazaal Forest."

"And that means..?" Lance asked, looking around the room. "Are you sure this isn't a prank, actually?" He adds. Pidge scoffs.

"I know my dad and brother. They wouldn't just get killed by a bear." She retorts.

"Sam and Matt Holt are your family?!" Hunk gapes, looking at her again. "I can't believe I didn't see it!"

"Katie?" Keith asked.

"Yeah?" She replied


	4. Chapter 4

"You're a girl!?" Lance screeches, catching Pidge off guard. She adjusts her glasses, and shuts her laptop.

"Yes. I pretended to be a boy to get Iverson off my trail. Though, it seems he may not of even wanted to arrest me…" she admits, and the circle around her solemnly nods.

"So… Iverson wants to kill us all?" Hunk asks wearily, and Pidge replies with a slow nod.

"Perhaps we could sneak out and explore Daibazaal? If that's where they're taking everyone." Romelle suggests. Pidge smirks, and nods.

"Then we should split into teams of two." Keith cuts in, and the rest of thr group agrees.

Keith split them into groups of two, Lance and Hunk, Pidge and Keith, and Romelle and Allura. Everyone was satisfied with their grouping, and they all ordered a coffee before exiting Starbucks. They began their walk back to campus.

"What time should we leave our dorms?" Allura asks, and Pidge thinks it over. She closes her eyes, which signals she is thinking, and stopped walking.

"One am, if it's not too much of a hassle." She answers, continuing to walk. Thr group follows behind her closely. Within minutes of comfortable silence, they had arrived back at campus. They split into their different dorms, and got together bags for their exploration.

Lance, Romelle, Allura, Keith, Hunk, Pidgeon

Lance: We need like, a group name!

Keith: Lance, no.

Lance: It could be like, 'Voltron'

Allura: I second Voltron!

Romelle: And we could be the paladins!

Pidgeon: Sounds good.

Hunk: Are we sure about this? I mean, we could sneak into the kitchen instead and get a nice midnight snack.

"Hunk!" Pidge yells, looking away from her phone. Hunk jumped from his bed and rubbed his head.

"Sorry!" He mumbles with sincerity,

Romelle: Ooh! And we can do codenames!

Lance: I'll be Sharpshooter, Allura can be Princess, Romelle could be Sass, Pidge will be Gremlin, Hunk is the Cinnamon Roll, and Keith is Knife!

Keith: I'm good with stabbing you with my knife.

Pidge: I can't believe I'm saying this, but Lance is right. Ee have no other ideas for code names…

Romelle: This is so thrilling!

|Lance has changed the name to 'Team Voltron!'|

Pidge shut off her phone and put it on her desk, smiling widely. She had friends, not only that, but they were helping her beat Iverson and find her family.

"Okay, it's time for dinner!" Hunk announces, and everyone gets their shoes on. They dash out the door and accross the foliaged campus, crunching on red and orange Autumn leaves. They arrived at the dinning hall, and pushed the door open, cool metal meeting warmed palms.

"Pidge! Lance! Hunk!" Romelle squeals from the back of the line. They meet up with her, catching their breath.

"Hey, Romelle." Hunk smiles sweetly, and Romelle returns the kind smile. They were ushered forward in the line, and grabbed plates. Going forward once again, they collected that night's italian assortment of food, ranging from pizzas to spaghetti.

"Keith!" Allura calls from the table once most of the group had sat down. The raven haired boy looked up from his phone, and Allura patted the seat next to her. "Come join us!" She smiles. The boy picks up his plate and makes his way towards the table, sitting down in the last seat available.

"Does everyone have flashlights?" Pidge asked, and the rest of the group nodded. She took a bite of her spaghetti, and placed her fork down suddenly. "I made an app we can use privately. It's like a walkie talkie." She explains. Pasta slid off of Hunk's fork as his jaw dropped.

"You made an app in two hours? How!" He demands, and Pidge adjusts her glasses, the cool metal adjusting itself upon her freckles.

"Honestly, I made the base when I was ten. I just adjusted the code slightly." She shrugs, and Hunk nods along. "I made it for me and my brother, so we could talk whenever." She explained a bit more thoroughly.

"How are we going to get it?" Allura asks with confusion. Pidge takes out her phone and presses several buttons.

"Easy; I'll text it to you." She answers. Suddenly, each of the Paladins received a text message. They opened up the link and quickly downloaded the app onto their phones. The team finished up their Italian dinner, and set off for their dorms. Pidge opened a Skype chat to keep everyone awake.

"I'm.. nervous for what we may find." Allura admits, hugging a pink and white pillow closer to her chest. There was shuffling in the background, until Romelle appeared on screen. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun, the front bangs she used to form her hair crown hung over her shoulders limply.

"I am as well, but imagine the good we'd be doing." Romelle points out optimistically, and Allura smiles widely.

"Guys, just one more hour. Let's meet where the bonfire was." Pidge cuts in, and Lance mumbled something about the burned grass before shrugging.

"Sure, why not." he whispers, and Keith gives an affirmative mumble from his end. The three dorms that the group had spread across, were Terra, Arus, and Marmora.

Marmora was towards the west end of campus, in between two models of stars and black matter students named the 'Black holes' and the dorm was centered in a circle of white flowers.

Arus was in a fairly grassy area, and was just a walk away from where the bonfire was. It was nestled cozily with surrounding trees and plants, smooth pavement sidewalks, and windows with flower beds.

Terra was what you'd expect in a college dorm. It was large, with two floors. Two hallways stretched on either side of the common room, each with stairwells to the next level of rooms. The dorm was fairly full, and was one of the coziest buildings on campus.

"I'm going to start packing my bag." Keith announces, standing up and dropping random items into a black backpack. Pidge swore she saw Keith drop a knife carelessly into the front pocket. He dropped a flashlight, and his phone as well.

"We have proteins bars, flashlights, a portable hot glue gun, and a jar of glitter, as well as our phones." Romelle lists, rummaging through the bag they had packed.

"Why glitter..?" Keith asks with confusion, zipping up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He was wearing a black shirt with black sweatpants, alongside matching sneakers. A dark beanie rested on his head, covering his Raven hair. The group had decided to wear dark colors in order to blend in better.

"Because if it blows in your eyes, it stings. Trust me." Romelle replies with sass, dropping a portable fan into their bag. Team Altea, (Romelle and Allura) had a messenger bag, and both had black leggings. Their tops were more fancy, but nobody cared.

As Hunk and Lance debated upon a group name, Romelle pulled her hair into a tighter bun, looping her bangs into it in a Katara style. Allura's hair was also pulled back, though in a ponytail.

Team Conspiracy, Altea, and Meme were ready. Hunk wasn't exactly mad about their name, though wasn't too proud about it either.

Pidge had ended the Skype call, as Hunk gently lifted their window. Pidge came out first, followed by Lance. Hunk was struggling to get out.

"Guys, I can't get through!" Hunk whispers quickly. Pidge gestures to the front door, and he nods, quietly exiting the building a minute later. They dashed carefully across campus, meeting with Allura, Romelle, and Keith.

"Everyone get into your groups." Pidge instructs, approaching Keith silently. He had slid two pairs of socks over his shoes, enabling him more stealth in the darkness, which was very smart, she had to admit.

"Let's go."

It was dark out. Wind lashed through Allura's hair, it floating out, catching the breeze. Moonlight illuminated her tan face, her eyes shining silver with glints.

"There seems to be nothing out here for miles…" Romelle moans, leaning against a near tree for support. Allura sighs and looks around.

"There's gotta be something.." The tanned girl mumbles, removing a protein bar from her satchel and nibbling gently on it. Allura broke off a piece and handed it to Romelle, who accepted and scarfed it down hungrily.

"Perhaps we should check in with the others?" Romelle suggests, and Allura nods. The blonde opens her phone and launches Pidge's app. There were three things she could select. Team Conspiracy, Meme Team, or Voltron. Romelle taps on Voltron, and it crackles before Pidge talks.

"Knife and I have nothing. Over." Pidge mumbles, and Romelle shares a short glance with Allura before pressing the talk button.

"Neither do Princess and I. Over." She admits, and Allura reaches for the phone, the dot for Lance and Hunk remained red, until it suddenly flashed to green.

"Well, Cinn and I did!" Lance yells, clearly running. Romelle logs off of the app, and opens a tracing app to find Lance and Hunk. They were close to the girls, just a little ways north. Breaking into a run, Allura and Romelle met up with the two boys, panting with exhaustion.

"What did you find?" Pidge asks, out of breath as she jogs up behind them, Keith shortly after. Lance caught his breath and leaned against a large rock.

"A base. Large base. Guard dogs." he answered, taking in a few more breaths. Allura took out a protein bar and smiled.

"Dogs like peanut butter, correct?" she asks gleefully, and Pidge nods vigorously. Romelle took out a few more and unwrapped them, dropping the wrappers back into the bag.

"Show us the way, Lance." She smirks, and Lance gives a hand gesture, signalling for the others to follow him. This time, they avoided running. They'd step on too many twigs and get unwanted attention. The base was large, metal walls sinking into a deep crevice, an unfinished object in the center. Caves outlined with door frames appeared to be hallways, possible cells. Romelle spots the guard dogs and ripped a piece of the protein bar off and tossed it.

"Go fetch." she whispers deviously, tossing more pieces. The dogs' ears perked up at the thudding noise. They sniffed, and the four animals trotted over to investigate. In their confusion, they began fighting each other in order to receive the snack. Romelle and Allura share a high five as they approach the wall.

"I need to find an outer control panel so I can shut off the power, we can't get caught on any security footage." Pidge demands, and Hunk nods, looking over the architecture of the base.

"There." he points towards a bulged rectangle, only noticeable with the shadows of the purple lights, partnered up with the glint of the moon. Pidge dashes towards the panel, twisting her fingernails in the screws until they came loose. She removed the panel, and smiled as she saw all the wires. She extended her hand, and Keith gave her his knife.

"That should do it." she mutters, closing the panel back up and handing Keith back his knife. The eerie purple that glinted against their faces shut off, and Keith stabs his knife into the wall multiple times until it doesn't budge. The rest of the group looks at him confused, until he climbs on top of the box, stepping on his knife, and leaping up, catching hold of the top of the wall. He pulls himself up, and extends his hand for the next person.

Soon, Lance was the last one on the ground. He climbed onto the box, and pulled with all his might on the knife, removing it from the wall. He hands it to Keith, and the people on top pull him up.

The wall was similar to the great wall of China, a path circling around the large crevice. People worked inside of it, either lugging plates of metal, wires, and other technological devices. Others hammered at the contraption in the center.

"There's Slav!" Hunk points out the short boy, his short dyed blue hair sprawled messily with his black hoodie replaced by black and purple rags.

"This place looks horrifying…" Romelle observes, her eyes darting around. People trudged and frowned, unhappy to be there. Of course, nobody could blame them.

"How long of they been taking people…?" Pidge hesitates to ask, and Allur shakes her head with disappointment.

"I don't even want to know." She admits, her hair catching the wind once more. Glints of sunlight peer through the misty clouds, and Pidge checks her phone.

"It's five, we should head back." she announces, and the group begins climbing down the wall, and gently passing through the field, the dogs still distracted by the peanut butter snack Romelle had given them.

"Goodnight guys, thanks for helping." Pidge smiles with melancholy as the group had arrived at the bonfire pit. They split their different ways, and walked back to their dorms, in a peaceful silence.

Bugs chirped, and birds sang for the new morning. It was the song of nature, and you could even hear the small twinkling of streams and brooks if you listened closely.

"I.. I'm not feeling so good." Romelle admitted as they entered the room through the open window. She clenched her stomach and sat down on her bed, breathing in deeply and slowly exhaling.

"Please, rest." Allura smiles, hiding her worry. Romelle nodded and layed down, curled into a ball. She was sick to her stomach. It wasn't her leukemia, no, it was what the Garrison was doing.

"I.. I can't believe this is happening." she sighs, rolling in her bed. Her bun had collapsed, and her blonde hair was now sprawled across her baby blue pillow. She held a stuffed rabbit close to her chest, and clenched her eyes shut.

"I agree…" came Allura's response, who had climbed into her bed. Thankfully, it was the weekend and the girls could sleep in slightly later.

"Hngh…" Pidge mumbles as she lazily rolls out of her bed. Checking her clock, she noted it was around eleven am. She took out an energy drink, chugging the sweet liquid in a matter of seconds. She tossed it into the trash can, hearing it clink with the other cans.

"Lance, Hunk get up." She mumbles as she collects articles of clothing to toss on. They had put Pidge's bed as high as possible, hanging a blanket to cover the front, giving Pidge space to change or anything else. She ducks under the blanket and changes into her jeans and hoodie, sliding on converse.

"Hm?" Hunk had finally mumbled drowsily. Pidge picked up her phone and began blasting a Panic! At the Disco song. Lance jolted awake, banging his head on the ceiling in the process. Pidge snickered, and Hunk slid out from under his covers, pushing his feet into yellow fuzzy slippers.

"There's thirty minutes left of Sunday Brunch." Hunk announces, looking up from his watch. Lance exhaustedly climbed down the ladder, and slipped on his slippers as well. Pidge left the room so they could get changed, and they came back out with jeans and tshirts, paired with sneakers.

"Come on." Pidge ushers, dragging them along the lush campus until they reached the dining hall. She opened the door, and the two boys walked in. They collected their food, Allura and Romelle still at the table.

"Ah, good morning." Allura smiles tiredly. Romelle blinks a few times, and waves to the trio. Lotor approaches the table and sits next to Allura before Pidge could.

"What is it, Lotor?" Allura asked with an annoyed expression set upon her face. Lotor grabbed her hand gently, and kissed it. He smiled and looked up at a shocked Allura. She pulled her hand away, and slapped him.

"Don't mess with her, she doesn't like idiots." Pidge teases, and Lotor grunts. He gets up and speedwalks to a different table, sitting down with four other girls.

"What a Yelmor!" Allura hisses, beginning to angrily eating her food. She stabs the waffle with force, it scratches the plate. She doesn't seem to care, because she continues to stab it.

"He could definitely learn about personal space." Pidge mumbles sassily, taking a bite of her italian breakfast sausage.

"Yeah! What was that about?" Lance whines, sitting down and glaring at Lotor. His group consisted of four girls, Pidge noted the girl with tanned skin and dyed rainbow hair was Ezor Kyomi, yet didn't recognize the other three girls.

"He's definitely a jerk, he's with Ezor." Pidge remarks aloud, and Allura pushes away her plate, resting her elbows on the table.

"Really? Ezor seemed sweet.." Hunk admits, finishing the last bite of his pancake. Pidge shook her head, and chugged her coffee.

"She's hell in high heels." Pidge shrugs, getting up to get more of the deliciously bitter and awakening drink. It was as she got up that Keith arrived, his face extremely pale supporting dark bags beneath his eyes. He held a cup of milk, and as soon as he sat down, he chugged it.

"Let it kill me." He mumbles in a monotone voice. Hunk pats his back gently, and takes in a deep breath.

"Hush, you won't drown." Hunk soothes gently, and Keith's gaze remained pale and frozen, he didn't seem to move.

"He's lactose intolerant." Pidge informs, sitting down with her cup of coffee. Hunk freezes and pushes his water towards the pale boy.

"Don't actually die, man."

"No promises."

The group had decided to go out once more, and see if they could get farther into the base. But, when they had arrived the purple lights were a deep crimson red. The wall was dented, and there were no people in the ditch. Worried, the group had moved around the forest.

"They probably just went to sleep and the red was a night-light." Hunk reasoned, fidgeting with his large hands. Beads of sweat rolled down the boy's face.

"Like hell that's true" Pidge gunts, hitting her flashlight as it flickered. "Ugh dumb batteries." she mumbles, giving it one last hit. It went dark.

There was a rustling in the surrounding forest, and Lance had grabbed onto Hunk, scared. Hunk had clutched Lance for dear life, until they heard a thud.

The flashlight turned back on, and Takashi Shirogane laid unconscious in front of the group. Keith rushed to the man's side, checking his pulse. From there, he and Lance picked him up and carried him back to Keith's room, where he rested peacefully on Keith's bed.

"Good thing you have a single room." Hunk shrugs optimistically, and Keith glared at him, blinking slowly.

"You can thank my old roommate's complaint for that." He shrugs, turning his attention back to the man knocked out on his bed.

"W-well what were they complaining about..?" Hunk asks with slight uncertainty, gazing around the room for anything that may drive somebody in the opposite direction.

"My knife collection." Keith shrugs, sounding like it was no big deal whatsoever. Hunk noticeably paled, and dragged Lance out of the room, soon followed by the last three who needed to go back to their dorm.

"Night, ladies." Lance winked, as he walked backwards with PIdge and Hunk. He turned around as they exited Keith's dorm, and walking back to Terra.

"Well, that was eventful.." Hunk mutters, lightening the heavy burden that they had just found a man that had been missing for almost two years.

"Yeah.." Pidge whispers, silently opening the door to Terra. She slipped inside, and ducked close to the wall, moving agily towards the door to their room. Hunk and Lance followed.

Soon, everyone was asleep.

The next morning nobody mentioned a word about last night's encounter. They simply discussed simple things about school as they ate their food. Pidge had a free block first, while everyone else had other classes.

"I'm going to the library." Pidge announced, getting up. She slung her bag carelessly over her shoulder and silently trudged out of the building, crossing the street and entering the homey library.

She put her bag down next to a table and took out a book, silently reading. She was lost in the world of magic and friendship, entranced by characters and words. She slowly slipped away from reality.

Except, it was sadly more than just a description. Ezor was also in the library, and she had 'accidentally' tripped. Pidge excused the incident as unimportant, and took a sip of water from her cup. Black dots blurred her vision, and her book fell to the table with a thud.

She felt strong arms grip her shoulder, and felt her feet lift off the ground. She remembered feeling strange, until there was nothing else to observe.

Pidge was late to class, which was completely out of character. Allura checked her watch, and noted that it was ten minutes past ten. Pidge was extremely late, and had still yet to show.

"Maybe she got stuck in a book?" Hunk had suggested, which actually was something that was highly likely, but Pidge also had an excellent sense of time. She would have noticed she was late by now.

Coran had started class anyway, marking Pidge off as absent. The group, including Shay, grew worried with every minute that passed. And of course, Lotor could have cared less. He spread his supplies over the table, not caring that his table mate had yet to show.

Nobody really paid any attention that class, and instead of heading to lunch, everyone went to the library. Romelle pushed the Kaltenecker reading room open, to find Pidge's open backpack leaning against the table.

A face up Harry Potter book occupied the open seat, yet Pidge was nowhere in sight. A cup of water spilled, water rolling over the gray table top.

Hunk was nervous at the fact Pidge's laptop was missing, and her phone remained on the table. There was an alert notifying her class was starting, yet it went off an hour and a half ago. The seat was cold, so Pidge hadn't been there for a while.

"She's just.. Gone." Keith muttered, observing the room again. All of her belongings, minus her laptop were in place, which meant Pidge had to be near, right?

"Guys, what are Pidge's grades so far?" Romelle suddenly asked. Hunk opened her phone, knowing her passcode from accidentally seeing her punch it in.

"All hundreds and ninety eights." Hunk stated, scrolling through her progress report. "Why?" he adds with curiosity.

"Aren't they taking the smartest?" she responded.

Pidge grunted, clenching her fist. She slowly pushed herself up to find herself in a square room. Low purple lights illuminating the small space.

"Glad to see your awake!" Ezor chimes from a corner, stepping out so Pidge could view her better. She smirked deviously.

"What do you want…?" She groans drowsily, leaning against the wall for support. She shakily stood up.

"Nothing much.. Just to torture you" Ezor smiled, an eerie grin settling upon her face. Pidge froze, and dug her nails into her palm. Ezor lunged at her, and Pidge felt Ezor's hands holding her throat. PIdge gasped, thrashing for air.

"Now, I know you took Shiro. Where is he?" she asks, dropping Pidge to the ground. The little girl looks up at Ezor's powerful frame and sputters, shaking her head.

"Hard to get, hm? So you wouldn't mind if I.. killed your brother?" She taunts, and Pidge's eyes widen.

"No- please don't" she pleaded. Ezor smirked and checked out her nails, adjusting her pose ever so slightly

"Then you'll go back to the Garrison and be my spy, and if you fail? Wish your brother goodbye. Ezor shrugs, picking Pidge up by her neck. "Or he'll end up like your father and mother."

"What- what did you do to him?!" she demands, flailing her arms in an attempt to hit Ezor. she fails, and Ezor tightens her grip once more, cutting off Pidge's air as a simple threat.

"Have fun." she chimes, and everything goes black.

 **A/N Hey yall! Are you enjoying this? What do you think is gonna happen? Any suggestions? Smack down a review and lemme know!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Pidge?!" Lance screams, wandering the campus next to Hunk, who was scanning and assessing the area. They approached the bonfire pit and she was curled up next to a chair, laptop open on the arm of the wooden seat.

"Wake up.." Hunk smiles gently, nudging her awake. She groans and looks up, her hair messily askew. The memories of earlier quickly making their way present to her mind. She shivers as a cold gust of wind hit her.

"Mm?" She asks with exhaustion, sitting up. She wraps her arms over her shoulders. "Must've fallen asleep.." she lies, standing up. She picks up her laptop, the cold metal surprising her unsuspecting hands.

"Ugh.. you'll be late to dinner, I'm telling the others." Lance mumbles. Pidge sighs and trudged after Lance, and Hunk gave Pidge her backpack. Pidge accepted, and slid her laptop into the main pocket as they entered the dining hall. She wasn't hungry, so she just went to the table.

"Pidge! Thank Alfor!" Romelle cries, dropping her fork and leaping to her feet, surprised, PIdge awkwardly laughed as Romelle released the embrace. She sat down, and leaned forward, resting her head down on the metal table. Pidge allowed the cold metal to cool her clammy forehead.

"Where _were_ you?" Allura asks, sipping a cup of tea. The soft honey lavender scent trailed into Pidge's sense of smell.

"I went outside and I fell asleep." She lied once more. Keith raised and eyebrow, and Lance and Hunk sat back down, and she took her chance. "So, anyone feel ready for the Morse Code quiz in Linguistics?" She adds in, hoping that someone had studied.

"Yep! I'm pro in Morse! Try me!" Hunk boasts, eating a large bite of his lunch. He chewed and swallowed, expectantly looking at Pidge. She lifted her finger, and began tapping slowly.

"Pretend-I'm-talking-about-food.-Ezor-Zethrid-Acxa-Narti-and-Lotor-are-in-on-the-scheme.-They-took-me-and-think-I'm-spying-for-them-now." She taps, and Hunk nods along.

"But, I still think sausages are better." He frowned, continuing the lie. Pidge noted Ezor's eyebrow raise, but lower at Hunk's response. Pidge exhaled with relief, as Keith nodded, understanding her statement.

"Why food? Why not knives instead?" Keith mumbled blankly, and Lance glared at him.

"Because none of us are Sociopaths! Jesus!" He yelled angrily stabbing his mashed potatoes, eating them with annoyance a clear expression on his tanned face.

Suddenly, it was the end of the day, and the group found themselves going to Keith's dorm in order to check in on Shiro. He stood by the window, gazing at the horizon with an emotionless expression on his face. When the group entered, he turned and smiled warmly.

"Hey, Keith." He greeted, and the raven haired boy simply nodded in response, sitting on his bed. Pidge sat at the desk, opening up her laptop, hissing as she realized they had deleted her database.

"Okay, so what happened?" Keith glared, and Pidge filled them in.

…

Ezor smacked her rainbow-dyed hair against the wall of her dorm, Zethrid punching her pillow.

"This is turning to shit! Lotor's a damn idiot!" She whined, pulling at her high ponytail, sweat beading down her tanned skin. Zethrid gave her pillow a final punch, and then tossed it at the wall.

"I just really want to bomb the base." Zethrid shrugged, stopping the pillow punching and looking at her girlfriend.

"I can't believe Lotor made me do that to Katie, just for some damn footage against her family! The man's sick," she rants, punching her face into the mattress and screaming. "It's so.. unfair!"

"Well, Lotor is an ass." Acxa sighed, flipping the page of her book. She scanned the page, and with a deflated look, closed it.

"Duh, he is." Ezor hisses with venom in her voice.

"Things have got to be better… eventually," Acxa mumbled.

"Can I punch him if it doesn't? I just really want to punch him."

"Zethrid!"

. . .

It had taken a while, but within weeks everything had returned to normal. The group was wary of Lotor, keeping an eye out for him throughout campus. Whenever someone would disappear, the group was mad that they didn't fight back.

"People could be dying!" Pidge paced, walking back and forth in their designated meeting spot; Keith's room.

"Then we go out tonight and free as many people as possible." Romelle said with determination in her accented voice. "I could die any day now, I'm not going down a coward." she added.

"Romelle, none of us are going down cowards. We will all stand up against them." Allura assured to the blonde, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. "I won't let that happen." she whispered under her breath.

"Then it's settled. We do a rescue mission tonight, free as many prisoners as possible." Keith cut in, allowing several heads to whip his way.

"Okay. Lunch is ending soon, so we have two more classes to go." Hunk observed, looking up from his phone. "We all have SER next, so let's head to the academic center," He continues, putting away his things.

They left Marmora, and arrived at the academic center. Entering the classroom, they sat down and patiently waited for the class to begin.

. . .

Romelle felt herself grow tired, more tired than she really should be. She rested her head in her hand, and tried her best to pay attention to the lesson as sleep edged her vision.

"Romelle?" Allura asked, turning her concentration to the blonde girl. Romelle weakly smiled in reply, giving up and allowing the black to consume her vision. "Romelle, wake up.." Allura whispered into her ear.

The thing was, Romelle heard everything. It was simply that her brain wouldn't allow her eyes to open, she was unable to talk or move.

As if it were a wave, something crashed over her and she was finally able to move again. She snapped her head up, slightly dizzy from the rapid movement.

"Sorry." she whispered, and Allura only smiled, allowing Romelle to rest on her shoulder, her violet eyes glazed with exhaustion.

Once the class had ended, they had one more elective and then it was break until dinner. Romelle made her way to the art center alongside Allura, at a rather slow pace.

"Is everything alright?" Allura asked, concern making itself obvious on her defined features. "I just.. You're very dear to me." she sighed, looking the other way. In a spare second, Romelle grabbed Allura's hand and stopped moving.

"Allura… I'm dying." She whispered, and Allura's eyes widened. "I-I don't know how much longer I have, but.. I want to spend them with you. So.. will you be my girlfriend? I don't want you to say yes out of pity, please.." Romelle rambled, but was hushed by Allura dusting her cheek with tanned fingers.

"Of course I will." She smiled, and Romelle broke into tears. Allura hugged her tightly, and allowed herself to let tears fall. As they continued their way towards the art center

. . .

Dinner had arrived sooner than expected, nobody speaking a word. Romelle poked at her plate, not hungry enough to take a bite.

The meal passed, and the group found themselves in Keith's room, dressed in black clothing. They tossed bags over their shoulders, supplies to make it into the base split evenly amongst them.

"We should enter the woods at different points, so it's harder to track us." Keith observed, drawing lines on a piece of paper. He added a circle, and pointed to it. "This is the base. Team Romura will go the western route through here.." He added, gesturing to a curved line.

"Man, you really suck at drawing." Lance observed, and was punched in the stomach by Pidge.

"Shut up and deal with it." She hissed.

. . .

"Team Romura is at base. Over." Allura whispered into her phone, awaiting response.

"Hance is in position." Came the next reply.

"Kidge has arrived," came Pidge's hushed voice. Romelle took the peanut butter protein bars out of her bag and tossed them, waiting for the guard dogs to chase after them. She dashed forward to the panel, Allura behind her. Keith had already gotten there and was helping Pidge over the wall as she collected their group's knife.

Romelle and Allura followed suit, meeting up with the other four members of their team. Keith removed rope from his bag and tied it around his waist.

"Lance, you're coming with me," he mumbled, tying the other end around Lance. "Walk to that side of the pillar and slowly climb down the wall. Stay standing on the ground as everyone else climbs down. Got it?" he instruction, and the Cuban firmly nodded.

The two slowly scaled down the wall, inching closer to the bottom of the pit. Keith reached the bottom, but was jerked forward by Lance losing his grip.

"Sorry." he whispered, finally reaching the bottom. The two prepared themselves, and then called people down, two at a time.

"There are multiple hallways, each group go down one while the power is out. Use a knife to wedge the doors open." Pidge instructed, dashing down a random hallway, Keith following in suit.

With every door they unlocked, there was still no members of her family left to find. She silently prayed that Matt would be here, but alas, he wasn't.

By the time they had regrouped, Matt was nowhere to be found. Pidge hid her disappointment, and they led the prisoners to safety.

"What should we call you? How can we help?" A prisoner asked.

"We're Voltron. You can help by preventing more kidnappings." Keith smiled as he turned, ready to dash back to Marmora.

Allura and Romelle went back to Palacio, Allura verifying Romelle was feeling alright before tucking her into bed.

"I'm fine!" She giggled as Allura pecked her forehead. Romelle smiled and surprised Allura by lurching forward to give the girl a hug. That night they fell asleep in an embrace, ignoring the certain fate of the future.

. . .

Nobody was prepared for that morning. Especially Allura.

At least she was peaceful.


	6. Chapter 6

Allura solemnly placed a pink juniberry flower in her long white hair, gazing longingly into the mirror staring back at her. Suitcases littered the room as she contemplated whether she should pack up Romelle's belongings for the girl's family, or be selfish and keep it as something to hold dearly to.

Turning her gaze around, she sat daintily on the bottom bunk of their formerly shared room, taking out her phone. Her lock screen was a photo of the two girls holding each other close, smiling as they nibbled on ice cream.

"Hey, Allura?" One of the girls, Luca, asked as she knocked on the door. Allura's head turned to see Romelle's childhood friend, residing in the dorm Sincline, standing in the door frame.

"..yes" she answered, turning towards the red head. Luca entered and sat next to Allura, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Everyone from our town will miss her, she won't go down without memory," Luca smiled, and Allura weakly returned the action.

"I'm aware, it's just.. she was very dear to me." She sighed, standing up. She dusted off her light pink sundress, pink resembling a way of honoring the dead in Altean culture. "I best not be crying before the funeral, I have words to share. Thank you, Luca." Allura finally said, her voice catching at funeral.

"You're welcome, Allura." Luca smiled, exiting her room. Allura watched as the tall girl left the building, and she picked up one of Romelle's heart hair clip. With a smile growing on her face, she pinned it into her bun, and began packing up Romelle's things, with a small part of her with her at all times.

"Hey," Lance came in, as she zipped the pink suitcase closed. Allura stood, and turned to the cuban boy.

"Hello, Lance." She sighed, taking a seat on the bed, allowing Lance to sit next to her. He obliges, and she sighs.

"What are we ever going to do?" She asks, gazing out the window straight ahead of her. The sun painted the blue sky. It was a peaceful day, just as Romelle would have liked it. Internally screaming, she stood. "Scratch that, we mustn't be late." She shakes her head, heels clicking on the ground as she left the room, Lance following from behind.

As she left the building, Coran's car pulled up, his eyes red from obvious tears. In the back, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith sat, each with solemn looks settled into their faces.

"Hey, Allura." Pidge mumbled, still at an unease. Allura remembered that even if Pidge wouldn't admit it, Romelle was her first friend at the Garrison. She bit her lip, and sat down next to the short girl as Lance clambered into the third row.

"Who else wants to cry?" Hunk whispered from the back, on the verge of tears himself. "She was my cooking buddy— agh! I'm crying!" He narrated, breaking down into tears. Allura turned away, and held Pidge's hand, Pidge returning an affirmative squeeze.

"We're here." Coran announced with a sad tinge to his voice. Allura gulped as she exited the car, stepping out into the cool autumn air. Leaves blew in the wind, playing with her long curls. Pidge stepped out second, which is when Allura noticed she wore a pink shirt alongside a white skirt, hair extensions making her short hair appear longer.

The second the group entered, Allura knew this was an Altean Funeral, which added a slight bit of joy to her heart. Upon entering, they were stopped to be given the marks of the chosen. Small crescent shapes were drawing on their cheek bones, each in the color of Romelle's, blue.

Juniberry flowers surrounded the hall leading towards the room where the service was to be held. Calm music played, as if it were a sunny day in a warm summer. Pink colors were pulled out everywhere. The Alteans were known for their celebrations of life, not days of solemn death.

"Oh! I miss her so much!" Hunk cries, sitting down on a pink cushioned bench. Keith hugged him, and everyone in the group gave a slightly concerned glance towards him.

"Keith? Emotions? This must be a work of the Galra!" Lance whispered so only the group could hear. Keith kicked Lance in the shins, and ended his embrace.

"I'm allowed to care about my boyfriend, you quiznak." He hissed, and Pidge sneered, taking out her phone to record the situation.

"Oh yeah! Why don't you shut your quiznak!" Lance spat back. Allura and Coran froze, and silently took a step back.

"Hehe—" Pidge snickered, ending the recording. "Blackmail material is always a bonus." She shrugged, putting her phone in her bag.

A tall girl with short brown hair and glasses entered. After she was given her marks, she approached Lance.

"Veronica—" He began. But was cut off by the girl shushing him, placing a finger to his lips. Her eyes narrowed and a brow raised as she removed her finger.

"Mom sent me to make sure you don't screw this up, I'm the expert on cultures, so here I am." She shrugged. She turned towards the group. "Name's Veronica, aka the better McClain." She smiled, as Lance gasped.

"Why doesn't mom trust me?" He gawked, placing a hand over his heart. "I am wounded!"

"Should I get the medical kit?" Coran suggested, unaware of the joke. Veronica snickered and shook her head,

"Nope, he'll be fine." She shrugged. Pidge smiled and turned to Lance, amber eyes glowing with mischief.

"Naw, let him die—" she insults. Veronica turns around to face Lance, a hand extended behind her back to give Pidge a high-five.

"Yes, that works too. Much less flamboyance, no?" Keith joined in, and Lance groaned loudly,

"Stop plotting my murder! The service is about to begin." He whines, pushing away from the group and entering the room. Blue lights surrounded the room, creating a warm and cozy feeling. Pink banners and furniture lined the room. Everyone was handed juniberry flower crowns upon entering.

Allura took a seat in the front, Pidge sitting next to her. A man with blue hair pulled into a ponytail stood up to an elevated bit of ground, covered by pink drapery.

"I am Tavo. Fellow citizen of 'The Colony'. Friend of Romelle. Romelle was a wonderful young girl, striving for the ability to help those she loved, even when it was out of hr reach. Today, instead of solemnly shaking our heads and blaming this loss on ourselves, we will honor her passing by celebrating, lifting her joyously to Altea." He smiles. "She will be remembered through joy and friendship, not tears and dismay."

Everyone in the room stood as they approached a coffin, each removing a Juniberry from their crown.

"Please, whisper words of encouragement to Romelle into your flower and place it coffin." Tavo smiles, whispering something softly into his flower.

"Keep being curious." Allura whispered softly, pausing for a moment. "I love you." She smiles, approaching the coffin, and placing the pink flower softly into the casket. She walks to the side of the room, looking up to the glass ceiling, the clouds forming a circle above.

"Be yourself, always. Never lie about who you are, you're unique. You're you." Pidge softly talked into her flower, placing it gently next to Allura's and standing next to her, mirroring her gaze towards the sky.

"Don't kill yourself." Keith muttered, dropping the flower and joining the group of people gazing towards the sky.

Once everyone had lined up, Allura stepped forward, resting her hands on two pillars. The lights turned off, the light from the sky causing all the markings to glow, the pillars glowing brilliantly.

"King Alfor, please welcome Romelle Colonia to Altea." She announced to the sky, as the lights switched back on. Two girls shut the coffin, and the funeral ended.

"Alteans believed that Juniberry flowers created life, so they use them in ceremonies to lift the spirit of the passed one to Altea." Allura smiled as they were outside, gazing towards the sky. Veronica stood next to her, blue eyes glinting.

"Let's have dinner, shall we? I'll pay." She smiles. "How does Vrepit Sal's sound?"

"It sounds perfect." Allura concluded, and they got into separate cars. Arriving at the restaurant, the group entered and sat at a table, ordering their food.

"It was just so... sudden." Allura admitted, and Lance rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's just be happy, after all, it's the Altean way," Hunk smiled, and Veronica shrugged. She cut a piece of her meat and shoved it into her mouth.

"Once, when we kids, I mixed water and dirt and told Lance it was chocolate milk!" Veronica snorted, and Lance dropped his fork, signaling for Veronica to stop.

"What happened?" Pidge asked, hoping for more blackmail material. Veronica smirk and ignored Lance's signal.

"He drank it, like an idiot! But then he told on me. Pop Pop gave him Ice Cream, and I got none!" She whined, taking a sip from her drink.

"Once, when I was little, Matt walked into my school and ran for student council. They gave him detention, even though he didn't go there! I miss that dork.." she giggles at the memory, taking another bite of her food.

"I was two when I got my first knife," Keith shrugged, and Hunk face palmed. He placed down his fork, and took Keith's hand.

"That's not legal."

. . .

"Night, Allura." Merla smiled, closing the door across the hall. Allura returned the gaze, and shut her own door. She returned to her dresser, and took down her ponytail. Resting the hair clip in a blue box, she shut it. Picking up her brush, she softly brushed it through her hair.

She changed into her night dress, laying down on Romelle's bed. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to drift off to the sweet scent of Juniberries.

" _Hello, Allura." Romelle's voice rang in her ears. The girl turned to find Romelle, blue markings glowing brilliantly on her cheeks, ears pointed._

" _Romelle—" Allura called, tears prickling at her eyes. "Please, are you okay?" She whispered, holding onto Romelle's hands._

" _I'm fine, I miss you, though..." the blonde sighed, wiping a tear away from Allura's face. "That night.. I found something. Open the locket." Romelle instructed._

" _What? Romelle— what did you find!" Allura gasped, holding onto her hands tighter. "Don't leave me, please! What must I do? What must I find? She begged, and Romelle's face turned solemn._

" _My time with you is almost up, I love you." She smiled as she slowly turned to light and floated away._

"Romelle? Romelle! No!" Allura screamed, jolting awake. Panting, she gazed at her clock. It was late, and the girl found herself ripping the sheets off of herself, scrambling towards Romelle's jewelry box.

"Agh, what's the passcode!" She hisses. She tries Family, Bandor, Altea. Sweat broke out on her face as she tried one last time. _Allura_. The lock clicked open.

Removing the circular locket, she opened it, a piece of paper fluttered out to the ground. Picking it up, her eyes widened.

 _Log 402, Prisoner Matthew Holt moved to holding cell inside robeast. He will pilot mech on launch, against will._


	7. Chapter 7

Allura's hands shook as she held the note, seated on her bed. The responsible thing to do was to tell Pidge, but the poor girl had already suffered so much.

The town's clock tower rang, signaling it had reached two am. Placing the note on her desk, she pulled the blankets to her chin, and tried to sleep.

Before she knew it, she was in a dreamless sleep. At least, until someone threw a rock at her window. She groaned and peeked at her clock, realizing the time. She dashed to her window and saw Lance. He looked puzzled, and was about to throw another rock as she threw the window open.

Lance tripped and fell off of the branch he was sitting on. After laughing, Allura leaned out to view him.

"Are you okay?" She calls teasingly. He rubs his head and glares, kicking a rock, yet tripping again.

"Oh my stars! Does my hair still look good?" He suddenly squeaked, grabbing his phone.

"No, you look like total shit." Allura rolled her eyes. Lance gasped as he fixed the few askew hairs, and watched as the girl ran back into her room, returning dressed and with the satchel they would bring into the woods. Taking out the rope, she draped it over a hook and slowly let herself down, collecting the rope at the end.

"You could have just used the stairs and left through there—" Lance pointed out, gesturing towards a door a foot away.

"You could have came in and knocked." She shrugged, and Lance froze. He scratched the back of his head and nervously laughed,

"Oh, right—" he mumbled. "We should get to breakfast before that ends, Pidge has been drinking coffee for the past two hours, so.. watch out," he informed her, and she simply giggled. Her hair was pulled back into a long braid, draped over her shoulder.

"That'll be quite alright. I was hoping we could go to the mall— I'd like something sparkly," she suggests as the two walked towards the dining hall.

"That sounds like fun, we could totally do that if everyone else is up for it." Lance shrugs as he holds the door open. "Ladies first" he smiled, and Allura snorted.

"Like you aren't a lady yourself." She jokes, entering the building. She collected her food and sat down next to Pidge, who was drinking coffee as she would've guessed, while working on a computer.

"Morning, 'Llura." The girl mumbles, still exhausted. She sighs and pauses her typing, beginning to sip from her mug labeled 'Tears'.

"Paladins! How about we go to the mall, today! It's a Sunday, and we could take the bus to town." The tanned girl suggested. Pidge shut her laptop and chugged the remaining coffee, slapping the mug down to the table.

"Perfect, let's go." She suddenly bursts out, surprising most of the people at the table with her quick agreement, Lance even placing his hand to her forehead to verify she wasn't ill.

"Well, then! I suppose it couldn't hurt.." Hunk shrugged, looking at Keith. "Are you okay with it?" He asked. Keith shrugged, and Allura beamed.

"Away we go!" She cheers, grabbing Pidge's hand and leading her out of the dining hall, the rest of the group following close behind her.

They all boarded the bus and sat in the back, Pidge doing something on her phone as the bus moved along the highway.

"What're you going to do?" Lance asked Hunk, who simply shrugged in response to Lance's question.

"I'm probably heading off to the food court and getting free samples, y'know?" He added in more detail.

"Sounds fun." Keith mumbles, eyes focused on the window, staring out at the moving surroundings. They entered the city, and soon came to a stop.

"Mall stop!" The bus driver called from the front, awaiting the passengers to load off of the bus. The group scrambled to get off of the bus, standing on the sidewalk. The cool, autumn breeze floated in the air as they arrived at the mall.

"Wow— it's huge." Allura beamed, dashing inside. "We'll regroup at the giant clock in two vargas!" She smiled, running away to go find a clothes shop.

Keith trudged off in a random direction, fingering a blade in his pocket. It was wrapped, so he couldn't 'accidentally' stab someone, or himself.

"Don't you just hate it when you have to slice through rocks and then go to a picnic, but your knife is too dull? We all know how that feels like! Now, with Swamp Moon Limited Edition Blade, you can do all of the above, and still have a sharp knife!" A kiosk owner cheered. He took out a knife to begin his demonstration, slicing perfectly through a rock, and proceeded to cut a pineapple.

"Hey— Could you tell me where this came from?" Keith asked once his demonstration ended, placing his knife down on the counter. The man picked it up, and squinted before placing it down.

"This is a Luxite blade!" He gasped, eyes narrowing towards Keith. "How about ten thousand dollars for it?" He prods.

"It's not for sale." Keith mumbled rather sharply, reaching out for the knife. "Give it back—" be pleads, reaching farther towards the kiosk owner.

"Twenty thousand and I won't tell people you stole this." The man smirked, an Keith's eyes grew with anger.

"I didn't steal it! It was given to me!" He shouted, finally grabbing hold of the handle of the blade. Pulling back, he tumbled backwards. The kiosk guy pressed the thievery button, and Keith made a run for it.

. . .

Pidge's face remained stone cold as she gazed into the shop's windows, searching for something worth her time. Pausing, her eyes widened as she viewed Killbot Phantasm I sitting on a shelf.

"Oh my stars! Lance! I have to get this!" She gasped, clawing at the glass. "How much is this—?" She asked the shop clerk, hope wide in her amber eyes.

"That'll be hundred twenty dollars." He shrugged, and Pidge became pale.

"Lance! We don't have that much money!" She hissed, Panic evident in her tone.

"We'll find a way." He dorkily smiles, until something in the distance catches a glint in his eye. "You up for something possibly illegal?" He asked the small girl. Her eyes widened and she vigorously shook her head yes.

"We'll be right back!" She calls to the clerk, beginning to run towards the fountain. Pausing, she turned. "Don't sell that!" She yells as she continues to run towards the fountain.

She collected as many coins as she could into her pockets, Lance doing the same.

"We have enough—" Pidge smiled, until Lance suddenly turned.

"We need enough for tax, too." He shook is head, searching the fountain.

"Lance, look!" Pidge smiles as she points to a young boy aiming to throw a dollar coin into the fountain. Lance nodded and dashed to the falling coin, catching it in his mouth.

"Let's go!" He smirks, dashing back to the shop. The duo purchases the game, and share a mischievous look. They were in for a fun day.

. . .

Hunk wandered into the food court, picking up every sample he could find. Everything was so delicious, and he didn't know what to order. He grabbed a dumpling from a plate, only to be snarled at by the food court's owner.

"You must pay for your food." He grunts, extending a hand for Hunk yo place money into. The boy reached into his pocket, when he realized her had forgotten his money at home.

"Funny story; I actually forgot my wallet back at my dorm—" he awkwardly smiles, hoping the taller man would show mercy.

"Then you must work off your bill." He mused. Within seconds, Hunk found himself ankle chained to a pipe in a messy kitchen, being forced to clean dishes.

"How long you've been in for?" Hunk asked the elder woman next to him, who was also cleaning dishes.

"Sal put me in here when I was just a little girl..." she sighed, staring off into space. The chef's phone rang, and when he answered, his face had paled and he had dashed out of the kitchen, and Hunk stood.

"I will take the honor of cooking alongside you," he smiled broadly, and Sal let out a deflated sigh.

"Fine. Just don't give anybody food poisoning and kill them." He mumbled, allowing Hunk near the food. He squinted at the order and quickly prepared it, adding extra detail, as well as special herbs and spices

"Bon appetite!" He smiles as the girl walks off with her plate. Hunk watches with satisfaction as the girl's eyes widened with joy.

"What's wrong with her face?" Sal observed, glaring between her and Hunk.

"She's enjoying her food." He smiled in response.

. . .

Allura wandered into the fourth clothing shop she had been in. Shopping bags hung over her arms as she looked through the racks of dresses. She picks out a soft pink and blue one, then exits the store. Finding her reflection in the glass, she smiled with determination.

Allura entered the hair salon, and scheduled an appointment that would start in a bit. Once she had started, each snip of the scissors released a weight of the old broken girl. Soon, she was someone new, with a new beginning.

She payed for the appointment, and exited the salon, her fresh new bob cut bouncing alike her step.

She met up with the group at the clock, and they all stood to chat for a bit.

"What did everyone do?" Allura asked, joy rebounding in her voice. Lance and Pidge shared a glance as Pidge clutched a box tighter to her chest.

"We stole all the money from the fountain to buy a video game." They shrugged in unison, Hunk's jaw dropping.

"I started a knife fight in a mall." Keith pointed out, mot caring about the dangerous and illegal things this team was doing.

"I went to the kitchen and got my own Gordan Ramsey spin-off." Hunk smiled, and Allura gave him a pat on the back.

"I went shopping, and got a new haircut for a new start. Do you like it?" She smiles, giving a twirl to show off her new do.

"I love it!" Hunk cheers, clasping his hands together. Pidge shrugged, and checked her watch.

"We better get going to the bus stop, or we'll miss our ride back to campus." She stated. The group nodded. Hunk pushed open the glass doors, holding it open for the gang to walk out. He let go and walked slightly faster to catch up with everyone.

"I had a lot of fun today. Takes the stress off of a lot of the crap going down." Lance concludes, stepping onto the bus once it had arrived.

The gang had arrived back at campus with one hour to spare before dinner. They headed their separate ways, going back to their respective dorms to unpack their new stuff.

Allura opened the door to her room, her eyes widened at the sight. The pillows were ripped open, all of her belongings sprawled across the floor. Boxes layed in pieces. Romelle's jewelry box destroyed. The message on her desk was gone.

The bad guys had figured out what she knew about Matt. And they made her pay the price.

Her eyes widened as she dashed to her dresser, noticing Romelle's hair clip was gone.

What had she gotten herself into?


	8. Chapter 8

Gulping, Allura does her best to fix the mess. She reaches into her Juniberry flower pot, relieved to see the locket was still intact. She clasped it around her neck, clutching it close to her chest as she returned to bed.

 _"How was your day?" Romelle smiled, seated in a field of Juniberry flowers. Allura turned, eyes filling once more with tears. She dashes towards Romelle, holding the girl closely to her._

 _"It wasn't as good as it could be, without you." Allura admitted, a solemn look in her sparkling blue eyes._

 _"Allura, you must let go of me, I'll visit you in your dreams, though you mustn't ignore those who you have. Someone may miss a chance to say goodbye." She whispered. Allura froze._

 _"What do you mean, Romelle?" Allura asked eyes going wide. She held onto the blonde's pale hands tighter, determined to not allow her to slip away._

 _"I'll be looking over you," Romelle smiled. "I am one with you as long as you hold the connection." She added, picking up a flower, lightly blowing on it. It turned to light and floated away into the crystal skies._

 _"You're being vague.." Allura whispered, picking up her own flower and tucking it into Romelle's hair._

 _"You will understand. Now, go. Your friends await." The girl replied, holding onto Allura's hands. Closing her eyes, her markings began to glow. The glow spread, and soon, both girls turned to light and disappeared._

Allura awoke, a pale glowing blue mist blurring her vision, disappearing within seconds. She sat up, and began getting ready for the day.

"Attention, students! Auditions for Hamilton are now open! Audition after last period!" The dance teacher shouted in the breakfast hall. Keith placed down his fork, and turned his head back to the group sitting at the table.

"Want to audition as a group?" He asked, and Hunk's potato slipped off of his fork. Jaw dropped, he quickly shook his head to verify Keith wasn't joking.

"That'd be lovely!" Allura squealed, clasping her hands together. "I'd love to go for Eliza!" She added, and Pidge shared a glance with Keith.

"I want to go for Lafayette." She shrugs, and Hunk blinks again, the poor boy completely unaware of what was going on.

"I'll go for Hamilton!" Lance sent a wink. "I got the looks, after all." He smirked, flashing a grin towards Allura.

"I'm bi, not dumb." Allura mumbled in a monotone voice. Sighing, she took another bite of her breakfast, glaring daggers at Lance.

"We all know Lance is a bi disaster," Pidge snickered, the said boy gasping and clapping a hand to his heart.

"Your words wound me!" He whimpered, proceeding to shake his head. He turned his gaze to his own plate, picking up a bite of pancake with his fork. He ate a bit, and then took a bite of green eggs. He proceeded to spit it out. "The heck is this?" He gagged, trying to scratch the taste off of his tongue.

"Hey! I cooked that!" Coran shouted from a few tables down, and Lance jumped in his seat from absolute fear of the sudden shriek.

"I-It's amazing! Wow!" He quickly rambled, shoving piles of the green goop into his mouth, hopeful not to get detention or a scolding. Coran's glare never shifted as he turned away, Lance spitting the goop back onto the plate.

"Great job," Pidge snickered, high-fiving Allura, who also had a wide, mischievous smile on her defined features.

"I mean, I could go for Burr." Keith shrugged, and Pidge exchanged a glance with him, slowly nodding in pure agreement.

"You just want to shoot me, don't you?" Lance accused, pointing his fork at Keith, and them crossing his arms with a light scoff.

"I also want to insult you—" Keith added. In a split second, Allura fell face down to the table in a fit of giggles.

 _"Good luck, Allura,"_ a voice whispered into the tanned girl's ear, and she sat up, searching for Romelle. Shaking it off as a hallucination, she continued eating.

. . .

And so the day began. Pidge made her way to SER, alongside the rest of the group. There were four new girls, Lotor's gang, sitting at the two empty tables in the back.

Lance leaned over to Keith, looking at Hunk.

"Are you two actually dating?" He whispered. Keith rolled his eyes, and he sat back in his chair, placing his feet on the desk.

"Nope, I was kidding." He shrugged, gazing at Hunk and Shay. Coran entered the room, twirling his mustache.

"Okay! Today is going to be a golden day! You can work on anything for any other classes, please use it responsibly." He announced, taking a seat at his desk. The door to the room burst open, and two kids ran in.

"Mr. Smythe, can we interview some people for our project?" The girl asked, panting and then quickly snapped upwards.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt.. go ahead!" He smiled, and the girl gazed at the boy behind her, approaching Keith and Lance.

"Name's Nadia, what's it like being everybody's favorite gay couple? She smiled, eyes bulging with excitement as the boy held up the camera. She held a note book, scribbling down notes as Keith and Lance shared looks.

"We're not— dating.." Keith answered, and Nadia groaned loudly, harshly scribbling in her notebook. Lance picked up his water and began drinking to hide away from the situation.

"Then could explain why you two were seen sneaking out into the Daibazaal woods a few nights ago~?" She raised a brow, mischievous look on her tanned face. Lance spit out his water, nearly drowning.

"I lost my inhaler at the bonfire, and we went to go look for it." Keith lied, meanwhile Lance continued to attempt to regain air.

"Ugh, Ryan, cmon.." Nadia mumbled, dragging the boy out of the classroom. "How much is your special effects budget?" She asked, audible from the room they had just left.

Pidge, from the back of the classroom, snickered as she ended her recording. As previously stated, blackmail material was always great. She added it to her 'Klance' album, and shut off her phone.

Before anybody knew it, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. The group split up to go to their next class.

. . .

Last period came quicker then expected, and the group begun getting ready for auditions. Allura had decided to carry through with Eliza, but Lance had changed to Philip/Laurens so he could die twice. Nobody really understood why, so they shrugged it off.

Keith assumed it was so he wouldn't get the pleasure of shooting him, so someone else got to do it. Pidge went with Lafayette, her reason being 'So I can swear in French!', a completely valid reason. She'd also possibly get Jefferson, which meant plenty of sass.

Nobody was happy when Lotor auditioned for Hamilton, except Keith, who'd get to shoot him and insult him on numerous accounts.

"Jefferson and Hamilton, Caninet Battle!" The director called. Pidge and Lotor stepped onto the stage, each smirking at the other.

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! We fought for these ideals, we shouldn't settle for less! These are wise words don't be surprised that I quote them, don't act surprised you guys, cuz' I wrote em!" She smugly sang, ending the Jefferson audition of the song. There where whoops from the side from her friends, and Lotor began.

"Thomas, that was a real nice declaration, welcome to the present, we're running a real nation! Would you like to join us? Or stay mellow doin' whatever the hell it is you do in Monticello!" He finished. The director clapped, signaling the auditions had ended.

"Audition results will be up tomorrow! Good luck, guys!" She smiled, and Pidge ran to pick up her bag.

"Hunk better get the part of Washington! I want him to be Lotor's boss!" She squealed, dashing outside.

Allura smiled, and followed after her, everyone else exiting the Drama center. They sat down in the glass, Hunk taking out a basket and handing everyone a sandwich.

"That was so fun!" Hunk beamed, taking a bite of his sandwich. Pidge nodded and took a bite of her own, smiling with satisfaction at the peanut buttery taste.

"Though, we should probably talk about the mission a bit." Keith said, changing the light mood to one of determination.

"We need to bring honor to Romelle, she was just as big of a part of this than any of us are." Lance mumbled, his voice firm, yet calm at the same time.

"I.. don't think she's completely gone." Allura admitted. Everyone's heads snapped in her direction as she turned to face them all. "She's been communicating with me through my dreams. She's been vague, though. She said that somebody may not get a chance to say goodbye..." she sighed, turning her gaze back to her sandwich, which no longer held it's appeal.

"It's probably nothing, you're probably just not ready to let go of her." Keith interjected, and Allura paused. Placing her sandwich on the paper plate, she allowed something to cross her mind.

 _You're not crazy._ A voice whispered into Allura's head. She nodded, thankfully nobody noticed.

"Our next order of buisness is to destroy whatever weapon they're building." Pidge stated, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"First we need to figure out what it is, first." Hunk cut in. Allura paused, and took a sip of water.

"I believe it's a robot beast, designed to capture or destroy things." Allura explained, doing her best to elaborate on what Romelle had discovered.

"How do you know that?" Keith asked, raising a brow towards Allura. She pushed her braid over her shoulder snd placed her water bottle in the grass.

"Romelle, as I mentioned, has been speaking to me within my dreams." She answered, and Pidge simply shrugged.

"I mean, I thought hiding a giant base in the Daibazaal woods was impossible, yet behold, behold! It happened. I mean, it's only unlikely. But technically, nobody has disproven magic for good." She explained, finishing her sandwich. "That was really good, thanks, Hunk!" She turns her head.

"How about we go to the woods before dinner? We have a test tomorrow in chem, I don't wanna fail, y'know?" Hunk suggested.

"Couldn't hurt." Came Keith's reply. Hunk packed up everything into a bag, ready to dispose when they returned to the dorm.

"Let's go get our stuff and get going, then." Lance piped, standing and dashing across the field to Terra. Allura turned to Palacio (As Romelle had named Arus, for she deemed the residents royalty in need of a palace), while Keith headed to Marmora.

In ten minutes, they had regrouped at the bonfire. Pidge reached into her bag and pulled out five 'U' shaped gadgets and handed them out.

"I call them bayards. For now, they only have a knife installed, but it'll do for combat and protect your hand from being sliced off. Questions?" She explained, and everybody shared a glance before shaking their heads no.

Into the woods they went, stepping over fallen branches and roots, actually able to see where they were going. They arrived at the base quicker the at night, and climbed down the rope after it was successfully let down. Stabbing two of the plain knives into the wall, they tied both ends down and left in search of the weapon.

"Pidge, that's huge, like, really huge!" Lance hissed, pointing to a large robotic machine, ten times the height of Lance. She nodded as she dashed forward, plugging her laptop into the control center. She installed a virus, and removed her bayard. Unplugging her laptop, she switched on her bayard and destroyed the panel of the weapon, running back to the group.

"That'll hold 'em back." She smugly informs the group, preparing to leave. Until they heard voices.

"Emperor Zarkon shall be impressed with your work, Sendak." A harsh voice mused. One pair of footsteps, the heavier ones, distanced, yet the lighter ones continued in their direction. Exchanging glances, everyone ran to hide. "What's this?" The voice raggedly smiled, noticing the reflection of Allura on the metal floor.

 _"Allura! She sees you!"_ Romelle's voice rang in her mind, cautionary. Allura turned, to face a woman with long white hair, red marking cutting down to her chin.

Allura squeaked, and dived under the woman, terrified for her life. The tanned teen was no match to the elder woman. The woman shakily held up her hand, a blackish purple orb of lightning forming in her clawed grasp. Allura's eyes widened in fear.

 _"Allura, turn on your bayard!"_ Romelle instructed. Allura did so, yet instead of a blade, partial amounts of the white turned pink, a blue whip extending from the end. Her face changed with determination, and she whipped it at the woman. There was an electric sound, and Pidge dived out, her bayard glowing a brilliant green.

"I have no idea what I'm doing!" She screeched as the green blade shot out, held by a glowing green rope. She pressed a switch, and the woman was electrocuted. The orb of energy hit the ground, and with a puff and crackle of electricity and smoke, she was gone.

 _"Who was that?"_ Allura asked in her mind, awaiting Romelle's reply. Instead of a private answer, a single Juniberry flower grew through the metal, and a glowing form rose, shaping into Romelle. Her blonde pigtails blew in a wind that didn't exist, blue boomerang shaped markings under her eyes. Her pink skirt and white t-shirt had been replaced by a base pink tunic with white accents, and turquoise sleeves. The tunic was tied at the waist by a tight brown belt, it parting and extending to her thighs. She had lose, baggy, black shorts, and pink and white boots.

"That, was the Altean goddess, Honerva. She made the wrong mistakes, and became corrupted by pure energy, quintessence. She wants to harvest all of the quintessence from the earth. You _must_ stop her." She explained. Lance's jaw dropped.

"I knew that food goo was radioactive! Am I dying—? Wait, am I dead?" He practically screams, having a crisis. Romelle rubbed her temples.

"Dude, we all see her too." Pidge mumbled, nudging Lance in the ribs. As he rubbed his ribs, Romelle slowly turned to light and disappeared.

"What if I'm imagining you all seeing her, too? Is that bad? It's probably bad—" he was cut off by Pidge electrocuting him with her bayard, as he fell to the ground

"Did that hurt?" She asked, raising a honey brown brow.

"Yes! What is it with you hurting me?" He whined, struggling to get up from the floor. "Can someone help me!?" He asked, yet nobody was in the mood to help him up.

"Holy crap— magic exists." Keith whispered to himself, losing his concentration by diverting to this thoughts.

"We.. should be getting back." Allura stated. Nobody was going to argue, it had been one crazy afternoon. They found their way out of the base, climbing up the rope and retrieving it. Making their way out of the woods, they returned to their rooms.

Allura put away her bag, and proceeded to brush out her short hair. She held the locket close to her heart, whispering a prayer and opening her bright eyes, glinting with a new hope. She shifted her view, and sighed as she noticed her Juniberry flower had wilted.

Pulling her sweater over her head, she exited her room and walked down the hallway, leaving the dorm. She caught up with Pidge, and they walked to the dining hall.

Dinner was uneventful. They ate in silence, not wanting to elaborate much on the afternoon's discoveries. Pidge still wanted to know how Romelle had changed the bayards, Lance wanted to make sure he wasn't superman, Hunk was scared about what his bayard would turn into, and Keith was still shocked that magic truly existed.

Something bugged Allura in the back of her mind, something gave her the feeling they hadn't vanquished Honerva's robeast. Something told her that it wasn't over, and more magic would find their way into their lives. What bothered her the most, was the possibility someone would die.

They went to bed, and she wasn't visited by Romelle. She dreamt of the afternoon. She dreamt about a blue lion. She dreamed about Altea, and she dreamed about Honerva.

That morning, she had dashed to the dining hall, and smiled to herself when she saw the cast list.

Hamilton: James Gryffin

Burr: Keith Kogane

Lafayette/Jefferson: Pidge Gunderson

Mulligan/Madion: Ryan Kinkade

Washington: Hunk Garrett

Laurens/Philip: Lance McClain

Angelica: Nadia Rizavi

Eliza: Allura Skye

Peggy/Maria: Nyma Beezer

James Reynolds: Rolo Beezer

King George: Lotor Sincline

George Eaker: Veronica McClain

Veronica winked at her brother as he gasped.

"I'm being killed by my own sister?" He practically screeched, glaring at the brunette next to him.

"Why do you seem so sad?" She taunted. Pidge giggle and high fived Veronica, meanwhile Allura rested a hand on Lance's shoulder.

"At least it's not Keith." She smiled, and Lance's shoulders lowered. He sent an annoyed gaze at his snickering sister, and then turned back to Allura.

"But it's my _sister—_ " he whined. Veronica sent finger guns towards Lance, and then approached him.

"Your _older_ sister should also be allowed to join you on your midnight hikes through the woods. Knowing you, you'd probably trip on a flower and give up." She smirked as the entire group's jaws dropped.

"How did you—" Lance gawked. Veronica placed a tanned finger on his nose, and raised a brow.

"I'm your fucking sister, I know things." She smiled. "You also added me to the group chat by accident. Now, you either invite me, or get suspended. You don't get to have all the fun." She added.

"Fine. Just, you'll be seeing some crazy things." Allura muttered to Veronica. The girl simply shrugged and sat down at a table, the rest of Team Voltron sitting down as well.

"I also probably know these woods by heart." She shrugged.

"Well, then. We're probably going out again on Friday. You ready to save the world against gods?" Keith asked.

"Totally."

" _We are under lockdown. Please go to the nearest dorm wing in a calm and orderly fashion. This is not a drill. I repeat, we are under lockdown."_ The loudspeaker announced. There were panicked voices, and the group exchanged looks. There were gunshots, and shattering of glass.

The group dashed to the nearest hallway, a teacher waving them in. She closed and locked the door, directing them towards the dorm hall. The second everyone had been seated, there was a gunshot and a female's scream. It wasn't somebody sitting in the dorm hall. There was a crash.

 _Somebody had been killed_.


	9. Chapter 9

_Someone had been killed._

The lockdown had ended as soon as the shooter had killed herself. Everyone but the team had been shocked to discover the shooter was Narti.

There was more tears when the two students who had died had been the Beezer siblings. Why they had died? The question was still up in the air. They closed the school for two weeks, and Pidge took everyone to her father's apartment down the road, which she had found the keys to during her search of the house.

Everyone had gathered in the dining room. Hunk had finished cooking a meal. He brought it into the room, and served the plates. He sat down, and looked up to Pidge who had set up a whiteboard. She had stuck the pictures of her brother, father, Nyma, Rolo, Romelle, Lotor and his gang, as well as drawings of Honerva, Altea, and Daibazaal.

"So, the Daibazaal woods are named after the sacred lands in Galran culture. We know Honerva was supposedly an Altean alchemist, who married the Galran Emperor as legend says, they were on the brink of death, and were exposed to Quintessence in hopes of saving them. Instead, they became corrupted." She explained, pointing to sentences and pictures on the board.

"How does Nyma and Rolo fit into this? Why was Narti a shooter?" Keith asked after taking a bite of his food.

"Narti is one of Lotor's 'generals' as I will be calling them. Since they took me and asked a favor, which so far they haven't asked me about anything, but they could of had Nyma and Rolo do them a favor. If they failed, there is a possibility Lotor sent Narti after them to kill." She sighed. Allura nodded along.

"But how does Romelle fit into all of this?" She asked. Pidge glanced at the bagged Juniberry flower pinned to the board.

"Well, at her funeral, Tavo said that Juniberries where believed to be the beginning of life in Altean culture. Someone could've prayed for her return during the ceremony, or something. What did everybody whisper to their flower?" She suddenly asked. Veronica coughed and all eyes were on her.

"I said 'I hope you can be with us again someday.' Could that mean something?" She shrugged. Pidge turned and wrote Veronica's prayer on the board.

"If all of this is true, and magic is a thing, that could have tethered her spirit to Juniberries. So, if we had one, it could possibly be the tether to Romelle." Keith theorized. Allura pushed back her short hair.

"I had a Juniberry in my room." She states. Pidge looked at her, and everyone else joined in.

"You said you could speak to her while you slept?" Pidge asked, turning around to write the new revelations on the whiteboard.

"Yes— the night we returned from meeting Honerva, it had wilted. She didn't speak to me that night. Though, she did mention about maintaining the tether, and she'd always be here." She replied.

"We need more Juniberries, and we each need one on us every night. Romelle could prove useful in this fight." Veronica suddenly stated. Everyone nodded.

"Where can we get some?" Hunk asked, turning to Allura. She shifted her eyesight to her locket.

"The Altean church where Romelle's service was held." She answered. "We can go now, we'd just need a ride."

"I gotchu, fam!" Veronica smiled, taking keys out of her pocket and jingling them back and forth. Everyone's eyes sparkled as she dropped their lunch dishes off at the sink. They tossed on their shoes, and followed Veronica to her van.

They pulled up to the church, pink banners snapping to and fro in the autumn breeze. They entered, and were greeted by Tavo.

"Allura! Can we help you at all?" He smiled warmly. She looked over to one of the Juniberry baskets.

"We'd just like some Juniberries for Romelle's ofrenda, we want to merge together all of her friend's cultures, like she brought all of us together." Lance lied through a fake smile. Tavo nodded.

"How very noble of you! Yes, I'll be happy to provide you with Juniberries!" He beamed, retrieving a basket and handed it to Allura. "My best wishes, may we honor her spirit!" He waved as they left. The two climbed back into the car, and Veronica drove back to the apartment.

Once they got back, Pidge set the basket on the dining room table.

"Allura, you're in charge of keeping these alive." She ordered. The tanned girl nodded, taking a seat,

"They do not die easily, I believe once they're tethered to Romelle, one will die each time her energy must build up. Whenever she projects herself to physically be here, I presume one will die to grant her entry," Allura suggested.

"Sounds good. Since we don't have school for a while, we can get to the woods whenever. It's easier during the daytime, but there are people still there at that time." Pidge mumbled.

"—and with school out, anyone who's a mole would be there..." Keith finished. The group bit their tongues.

"I have an idea, but I'm going to need some materials, a few days, a batch of peanut butter cookies, and four coffees. Stat." Pidge suddenly hissed.

"Do you really need the food, or is that just something you want..." Lance trailed off when Pidge snarled.

"Yep, got it, I'm off to starbucks—" He squeaked, and Veronica facepalmed.

"Fine.. I'll drive you." She whined, grabbing Lance's wrist and dragging him out of the apartment. Pidge ran into her dad's office and didn't leave.

Hunk worked on baking the cookies. He placed them in the oven, and walked into the 'Flower Room' as they had decided. Juneberries were planted near the large window, in cups, bowls, even some in normal planters. He helped until the oven beeped. He let them cool, as Lance and Veronica walked in with four coffees.

"You ready to face Pidge?" Veronica asked, hanging up her coat and putting her shoes away.

"Hopefully." Hunk and Lance reply in unison. Hunk moves the peanut butter cookies onto a plate and pushes the door to the office open.

Pidge had been building a contraption, it looked like armor. She bent metal, burnt it, even sat on it, to mold it into shape. Lance set the coffee on the desk, and Hunk placed the plate down gently. The two backed out before Pidge could scare them.

Three days later, Pidge opened the door and ushered everyone in. Six sets of armor were laid out on the floor, each fitted for one of them. In the center of the chest plate, there was a small compartment to hold a Juniberry.

"I want to see if Romelle can power them up, make it so you can summon your bayard." She explained, pointing to her blueprints. Everyone tried on their armor, and she sighed with relief as it all fit.

She closed her eyes as she felt a small spark. She opened her eyes and found herself standing on a seemingly sheet of glass, surrounded by the galaxy. The others appeared around her, and Romelle appeared in the center.

She touched the glass, and it glowed a brilliant blue. It branched out under each person, and turned on the lights in the armor. Pidge reached for her side and smiled as she felt her bayard form in hand. Suddenly, the glass shattered and Pidge felt like she was falling.

She opened her eyes to find herself in the office, her bayard evaporating into blue light and pulling itself to her thigh.

"Anyone up for kicking ass, in two weeks?" Pidge smirked. Everyone in the room nodded as they took off the armor.

Pidge carefully put them on mannequins that her dad had for storing special uniforms.

The two weeks had passed quickly, and the group had decided to keep the Juniberries and whiteboard at the apartment, packing the armor into one box per room.

They moved back in, and prepared to make their way back to the base that evening.

Veronica slipped on her armor, watching as it hummed to life. She crept past her sleeping roommate, Ina, and dived out the window. She was slowly brought to the ground by a jetpack, and she made a mad dash for the bonfire pit.

She met up with the others as they entered, moving with agility to the base. Veronica's eyes widened in awe and shock as she saw the base for the first time. Pidge tossed something, and there was a rustle as guard dogs went to go eat it. They jammed a knife into the wall, and climbed up onto the outer roof. Keith and Lance tied rope around their waists, and slowly let themselves down the ditch.

Once everyone had reached the bottom, Pidge led everyone towards the weapon room. She verified the coast was clear, and everyone followed her in. She placed her hand on a panel, and it glowed for a second, before a panel popped up on her gauntlet. She installed another virus onto the database, and stepped aside.

"Who wants to see if their bayard is a gun?" She asked, gesturing to the large robot.

Lance summoned his bayard, and was excited to see a blaster. He took aim, and shot, watching as the laser pierced a hole in the metal. The alarms went off, and everyone got in a fighting stance, Veronica holding a gun she had somehow made in the dorms.

"How did you—" Pidge asked, looking at Veronica's gun.

"3D printing can do wonders." She shrugged, and Pidge nodded, turning back to the door. Instead of Honerva, it was Ezor and Zethrid to enter.

"You—" Keith hissed, and Ezor was quick to shoot her hands up.

"We've been kind of forced into helping Lotor. We just erased any evidence of you guys in the security feed, so.." Ezor trailed off.

"I just want to blow something up." Zethrid shrugged. Pidge wearily looked at the robot, and back at the two 'generals'.

"Then you better answer any questions we ask." She raised a brow. Ezor shrugged in agreement. Zethrid raised a blaster, and shot the hell out of the robeast.

 _"This'll only set back Honerva, you'd need to travel to Altea in order_ _to retrieve the lions."_ Romelle's voice echoed. Everyone's heads snapped around, searching for the girl.

"The lions of what? And how would we get to Altea?" Allura asked. The chest plates began to glow, and everything turned black.

When they awoke, Ezor and Zethrid where gone. They were no longer in the base, and they sat in a field of Juniberries. The first thing they saw was Romelle.

"The lions of Voltron, of course."


End file.
